Truths of Life
by Morgana Deryn
Summary: Blind Sayuri Kaguya is of no use to her battle-loving clan. They called her Nigate, weak, and she accepted that as a truth of her life.. for a while. With the clan gone, what new truths will Sayuri discover as she becomes a kunoichi of Konoha? A story of family, friends, love, hate, revenge, and maybe a little forgiveness. Multi-pairing GaaraOC SaiOC SasukeOC NejiOC OCOC and more!
1. Prologue

**Truth: I am useless.**

Her first memory was the boy in the dark. She remembered being taken by the hand by one of the men in her clan. He thrust a tray into her arms and pointed her towards a cave opening. Of course, she didn't know what it was. She only remembered staggering as the tray was placed on her skinny arms, her shoulders being wrenched around so that she was pointed in the desired direction, and her back receiving a sharp thump.

"Walk," barked the voice of the man who gave her the tray. "Give him the food, bring back the dishes."

"Who is he?" she'd asked innocently. The Kaguya had no elderly. They killed themselves or were killed by others if they could no longer fight. Even at the age of five she understood this: the fight was everything for a Kaguya.

The problem was, she wasn't entirely sure she was a Kaguya. They just called her Nigate. She didn't know if it was her name or just a title, no one ever told her. She was not much like a traditional Kaguya. She didn't want to fight, and she had never handled a weapon. Granted, she was young, but she'd not so much as picked up a kitchen knife. She was in no way suited for combat, for these and one other main reason.

She raised her hand and placed it on the wall of the cave, trailing her sensitive fingertips along it. Her feet moved slowly on the unfamiliar ground, watching for any divots or lumps in the uneven floor. It wouldn't do to fall down and spill the food. That would mean a beating. That was always the way when she knocked something over or spilled something, despite the fact that she tried her hardest not to. She couldn't always help it.

She was blind. A fighter could not be blind.

Her sharp ears picked up the sound of shifting ahead of her and she pressed her hand more firmly to the wall, orienting herself. She followed along the wall, feeling heat increase and fade as she came close to and passed the torches on the wall. They did nothing for her.

Finally her hand hit wood. She trailed her hand along it and found more wooden beams connecting. With a quick skim of her fingers and the sound of shifting just beyond, she deduced this was some sort of barred door, meant to keep whoever she was feeding inside.

"Who are you?" asked a hoarse voice. She flinched slightly. She hadn't expected him to speak to her. She was never spoken to unless it was to be ordered around or reminded of how useless she was.

"I am called Nigate," she replied. "I am to feed you."

Slowly, she knelt to the ground, her hand sliding on the bars to guide herself down. She found a wide gap at the bottom of the door that she presumed was just for this purpose. She slid the tray inside and heard the clink of chopsticks on a bowl, followed by the sound of chewing. She sat there on the stone, uncomplaining, and waited. She was to bring the dishes back, after all.

"Stop looking at me like that!" snapped the boy in the cell. He sounded young to her, maybe her age. He was defensive and angry.

"I am not looking at you," she said quietly.

"You're staring right at me!" he snapped. "I don't like it, so stop!"

"It does not matter. I did not realize I was doing it. I am blind."

"Blind," he repeated slowly, obviously unfamiliar with the word. "What's that?"

"I cannot see," she explained.

"You can't see?" he echoed, sounding confused. "What happened to you?"

"I was born like this. That is why I am useless," she replied matter-of-factly. The statement meant nothing to her. It was simply a truth of her life, one that had been reinforced in her for so long it was second nature. She felt no hurt when she heard it. She assumed there were other people in the world who were useless, just like there were people who were useful. She was just one of the unfortunate ones.

"You brought me my food though," the boy pointed out.

"I have to do what I am ordered," she explained. "Why else would I exist? You are locked away, so I suppose you are dangerous. That is why I am feeding you. If you kill me, it would not matter."

"I'm not going to kill you!" the boy shouted. He sounded angry. She dipped her head submissively as he raged and waited for the storm to pass. "I'm not dangerous! I'm just… different."

"Why are you locked away?" she asked, tilting her head. She heard him shuffle, and then something was dropped onto the ground in front of her knees. She reached out for it and picked it up, running her fingers across it thoughtfully. The shape was unfamiliar, part of the edges sharp. This was some form of blade, she thought, the first she'd ever held.

She continued her perusal of the object thoughtfully. The material felt strange and new under her fingertips. She shook it by her ear and heard nothing. She brought it to her nose and sniffed it, before licking it hesitantly. The taste was odd as well. She bit on it and tried to bend it, but it was solid.

"What is this?" she asked, slightly frustrated by her failure to identify it.

"It's one of my bones."

"But… bones are inside of you," she scowled in confusion. "And if it is so sharp, does it not hurt you?"

"It's not like that when it's inside me," he explained. "It happens when I force it out, if I want."

"You force the bones from your body?" she said in surprise. "You make them sharp?" She'd never heard of such a thing.

"Yes," the boy said bitterly. "Why do you think they locked me up? They're afraid of me. It's not fair!" he said petulantly. There was a crash and the sound of breaking crockery. Her cheek twitched. She would be punished for that, no doubt.

"Have you finished your meal?" she asked, her voice somewhat colder now.

"Take it, I don't want it," the boy snapped. There was a scuffing sound and the edge of the tray slid into her knee. Spilled water and soup sloshed over the slight lip and soaked her too-big pants. Nothing she wore fit well, but she tended to her clothing meticulously, trying to make the most of it that she could. Her fingers were very familiar with the prick of a misaimed needle, but they were sensitive enough that she could stitch relatively well.

She took the tray and rose, placing a hand on the wall to guide herself back into the light. The same man who had sent her in was waiting for her outside of the door. She knelt down and placed the tray in front of him.

"What happened?" he demanded. She assumed he was referring to the damage the tray had taken.

"He became angry," she explained.

"What did you say to him? Oh, never mind," he snapped. "You're going to be doing this for a while, so you'd better get used to it and start doing a better job!" A foot came up and slammed into her face. She went flying and her back hit the ground hard, breath blowing out of her. She lay there and painted, eyes roving sightlessly across the sky above her as she fought to catch her breath and block the pain.

_The sky… I hear it's blue… I wonder what blue is?_

* * *

The next day she was shoved into the tunnel again with a tray of food in her hands. This time she also got a parting comment.

"Chip so much as a single dish and it'll come out of your hide."

Her hand trailed along the wall and her feet were a bit surer. She moved along the tunnel a bit faster now that she was had been here before. The more familiar a place was, the more quickly she could move. She could move around the camp that housed the Kaguya clan as if she could see, unless someone purposefully put something in her path, which happened with irritating frequency.

"I have returned with more food," she said as she knelt beside the barred door. She pushed the tray inside.

"What's wrong with your face?" The boy demanded, ignoring the food and scooting closer. She frowned slightly.

"I was to bring the dishes back. They were broken," she replied calmly. A soft hand pressed against her cheek. She knew he was reaching through the bars to touch her. His hands roved the skin gently and she could feel his eyes on her face. He seemed fascinated by the bruise on her cheek from the man's hit. His fascination interested her.

"Have you never seen a bruise before?" she asked curiously.

"How would I have?" he said bitterly. "I'm locked in here."

"Surely you weren't always," she said reasonably.

"For as long as I can remember," he disagreed, trailing his hand across her face. His fingertips traced her features.

"Who are you?" she asked, her interest now coming upon her full force. She did not know why he was locked away, besides his ability to manipulate his skeleton into a weapon. Perhaps he had hurt someone that way?

"My name is Kimimaro," he said.

"Kimimaro." She repeated the unfamiliar name, rolling it in her mouth and savoring the taste of it. She was not usually allowed to call people by name. She had to call them sir. "What do you look like?"

That seemed to throw him. "What do you mean?" he responded after a moment of hesitation.

"I cannot see you. I do not know what you look like," she shrugged. "May I?" she asked, raising her hands and slipping them through the bars towards his face. She felt his breath on her fingertips and again he hesitated, before leaning forwards. Her fingers were now touching his forehead. She traced along the outline of his face, then his profile, skimming her fingers gently over the soft skin of his eyelids. She ran her fingers through his hair as well as she was able, trying to get a feel for how long it was.

"What color is your hair? Your eyes, your skin, your clothes?" she rattled off.

Kimimaro suddenly found himself involved in a very odd exercise wherein he described himself. He'd never given a thought to his appearance before. He'd never seen how it mattered. Now he was noticing minutia he hadn't before as he described himself to a T. She kept asking for details and he kept answering even as he observed her.

She was a painfully thin little thing, younger than he by about two or three years. Her hair was gray and hung limply around her square face. Her nose turned up slightly and her cheeks already showed signs of prominence despite the chubbiness of face every child possessed. Her mouth was neat and small. She looked like she might one day be tall, but the fact that her clothes were big on her made her look so much more delicate and fragile. She was swimming in a worn pair of pants and a shirt, the fabric of the sleeves pulled back from her hands expertly. Most interesting were her eyes. They just looked ahead sightlessly, the blue-green color glinting in the little light in his tiny hole. The same red dots as he had adorned her face.

"Kimimaro," she repeated, finally withdrawing her hands from his face. "You have a nice face."

Kimimaro cocked his head. He wasn't quite sure how to take that. "What do you mean?"

"The others have hard features." She held her hands in front of her, cupping them in an example. "They have bulky, square angles. You are softer, pointed, yes, and deadly, but in a more refined way. I am confident you look very nice," she said decisively.

Kimimaro flushed, suddenly feeling flustered. He had never in his life received a compliment, and his first was not at all how he'd expected it would be. Or had he been wrong all along? Was that how you complimented someone? Did a compliment made everyone feel out of sorts and befuzzled?

"You look nice too," he returned somewhat hesitantly. Was it right to respond with another compliment?

She raised an eyebrow in surprise. "Do I?" She touched her own face. "Hm, I never thought about it. Thank you, Kimimaro, that makes me oddly happy to hear." Her smile was somewhat proud.

All too soon Kimimaro finished his meal.

* * *

He found himself waiting in the dark, longing for the times when Nigate came to him with food. He had to actively remember to eat. She spoke with him as no one else ever had and he forgot she was there for a purpose. She would touch him as they talked, learning his appearance by stroking his hands, arms, and face. He returned the gesture, assuming it was customary.

Her arrival changed his life in a way. His dank little hole suddenly seemed brighter, the flickering of the torches on the wall just around the corner took on a meaning of hope instead of taunting him with the world beyond his bars.

He had no way of knowing that he was as significant to her.

Her life changed both the day she found Kimimaro and the day she found the knife, the two being connected. Found was a rather strong word, as she cut herself with it while cleaning up the cutlery from the men's meal about a week after she began tending to Kimimaro. She had stopped working to simply feel the blade, testing it with her thumb, stroking the smooth side of the blade, gripping the handle of it in different ways.

It reminded her of the bone knife Kimimaro had handed her. It had the same biting edge, the same thicker grip, the same smooth sides. He had told her he was locked away for making these with his bones and it made her wonder if perhaps she could as well. Was it only Kimimaro? If she was a Kaguya, then they were somehow related, and maybe the ability stayed within the family.

It was that tantalizing thought, the idea that she could be powerful despite her infirmity, that made her reach inside herself and try to force the bone from her arm. Something shifted inside of her and she touched her arm, eyes widening in triumph! She had done it! There, protruding from the soft flesh of her arm, was a hard nub of bone.

She felt strangely vindicated, knowing that she truth she had accepted all her life –that she was worthless – was _not_ the truth. There was a difference between acceptance and like. She hadn't liked it, but she'd accepted it. But she was not worthless, she had a power so great the others in her clan feared it!

And it was her clan. No one had ever actually told her. For all she knew she could have been found in the woods as a baby and taken in by the Kaguyas – although they were more likely to murder a found baby than raise it. Part of her sang at knowing that Kimimaro was her family, that they were even closer than she'd originally thought.

Almost immediately after the initial burst of happiness, her face fell. Kimimaro had been locked away for his abilities. The Kaguya feared the gift she shared with Kimimaro. She could never tell them or she would be thrown into the cell with Kimimaro. She couldn't bear the thought of losing the smell of the cook fires, the sounds of the camp, or the feel of the breeze on her face and grass on her ankles. She knew she couldn't even tell Kimimaro, or he would hate her forever because he was locked away and she was not.

It was then that she discovered something very disheartening. It was lovely to have a secret when it was something you could share should the need arise. When you were alone, with no one to discuss it, it weighed on you and twitched in the back of your mind, never letting you quite forget it. She ached to tell Kimimaro that he wasn't alone, but she also trembled at the idea of losing him. He was the only one who showed her any kindness.

This also spawned the realization that she was a very selfish person. She knew Kimimaro had a right to know but she would not, could not, tell him. She would carry the secret to her grave if it meant he stayed by her side and didn't hate her.

This was how she grew up. For three years she bore her secret in silence, and some days it did not bother her. She spoke to Kimimaro and sat with him as he ate, telling him about life outside of his cell. She tried to the best of her ability to describe the sensations of that life that she loved, but it was only ever a hollow imitation.

She blew across his cheek to try and illustrate the breeze. She tickled his ankles with torn-up grass, but it wasn't the same. The only thing she did that he ever seemed truly fascinated by was the carved flowers she brought him with their real counterparts in hand.

She had discovered, after tucking the knife away in her clothes, that she possessed a skill for carving that one wouldn't expect. Sure, her hands were covered in nicks and cuts from when the knife slipped in her clumsy, unwieldy grip, but her sensitive fingertips conveyed to her things that sight alone could not and she was able to reproduce images with startling detail.

Her favorite things to carve were flowers. She would stroke the petals, turn them over, smell them, and learn them as well as she was able before picking up the knife and whatever block of wood she had managed to scrounge and setting to work. She moved the knife skillfully, shaving away bits of wood sliver by sliver as carefully as possible, trying to make it perfect.

She brought Kimimaro these carvings with their real-life counterparts to ask how well they were rendered. He would always tell her absently they were indeed perfect, too entranced by the scent of the flower he had buried his nose into the moment she handed it to him. She left her carved flowers with him and Kimimaro adored them. The flowers withered and died, but the carvings stayed perfect forever. He lined the wall of his little cell with them, and soon he had a veritable bower with which to amuse himself until she came back with a new one in her hand.

* * *

She remembered vividly the day her family vanished. They left on raids often. Killing and conquering was the lifeblood of the Kaguyas, the thing they looked forwards to like nothing else. But never had they taken on an entire village, and never had they felt the need to take Kimimaro.

When she realized he'd been let out of his cell, she'd tried to run to him. She'd wanted more than anything to share his first few moments as a free man with him, to feel his reactions to all the things she'd described play out under her fingertips.

"Kimimaro!" she'd cried upon seeing him, only to be backhanded by a nearby Kaguya man.

"Shut up and get out of here. We're not taking you," he sneered at her. She had clutched her cheek. She could feel Kimimaro a short distance away in the same way she could feel everyone, sensing some sort of energy that every living thing possessed. Kimimaro was the easiest to identify, as she knew it well. She'd turned her eyes in his direction and given him an encouraging smile before running off to her duties.

They always came back, often with a few less people than they'd left with. The Kaguya didn't escape battle unscathed despite their lust for it, and she knew the concept of death well, even if it was something she'd never personally experienced beyond the dead animals she cooked for them.

This time, though, they didn't come back. She'd stayed for days, drifting through the camp, wraithlike. She'd make huge meals, expecting every moment for the men to return to the camp in high spirits, the heat of battle still hanging around them. Time after time though, there was nothing, and she was forced to throw away huge amounts of food.

It was a week before she finally allowed herself to face reality. They were dead, all dead, even Kimimaro, which tore her heart to ribbons. They'd faced a shinobi village and come out on the losing end. The only people she'd ever known were gone. The man who first told her to take food to Kimimaro, the one that always stuck out his foot and tripped her when she went by, even the clan leader. They meant little to her beside her job, her duty to serve them.

She truly grieved for Kimimaro though. She'd tucked herself away in his cell and cried against the face he'd carved into the stone. He was her only friend, the only person she could claim to love. At least, she thought it was love, as she'd never felt the emotion before. She would walk across hot coals before seeing him hurt, and yet she was gone.

With reality came the realization that she couldn't stay here forever, wandering the camp aimlessly. She now had a chance for a life, a life beyond serving the Kaguya. One that was hers to live how she saw fit. The concept was both terrifying, exhilarating, and sorrowful. She wasn't sure she could handle being on her own, as she'd never had to be, but the prospect thrilled her. She just wished she could have shared this experience with Kimimaro.

Her nerves were strong though, and she didn't leave the camp immediately. She spent days preparing, packing a single bag. She found old clothes of the men, and for the first time, was able to alter them to fit her, which she spent an entire day doing, making two shirts and a pair of pants that actually fit her and didn't have to be held in place with lengths of rope.

In the end, her bag was fairly heavy. She tucked her spare shirt into the bottom, wearing the other clothes. Her knife and a whetstone to keep it sharp were tucked inside. Bundles of food and a canteen were essential, as well as the length of rope she wrapped around the outside. She found a flint and steel for starting fires and added it to her supplies. She searched everywhere and gathered as much money as she could find.

Last, wrapped tenderly in lengths of the finest material she could find, were all the carved flowers she had ever made for Kimimaro, the only things she had left of them. She couldn't bear to leave them in the hole Kimimaro had so hated. It seemed disrespectful, when he had treasured them so much, to allow them to sit and rot in the dark as he had for so long.

She left the camp, pack on her shoulders, without a backward glance. It wasn't home to her, and she felt no sorrow to leave it, only a vague nostalgia. Home implied an emotional connection, and she felt one to the cleared section of the forest. It was simply a place she had once lived.

* * *

**Yeah, I know, let's break out the tissues for poor Nigate. *snorts* The truth is, she's not going to be doing this whole pitiful me thing for long. With the Kaguya's gone she's gonna be a lot less submissive. I'd like to get about five reviews before I post the next chapter. I've got it ready, but I want any critique I can get on what I messed up and I'll take any suggestions of things you'd like to see happen. There will be a couple of side plots from the main overarching Naruto storyline purely for Nigate. No, she's not going to be essentially stalking Naruto's team. Yes, they will interact some, but not a lot. Yes, Kimimaro will be back, but not for a while. This is mostly about Nigate, although there will be a lot about her teammates later on when she reaches Konoha.**


	2. Worthiness

**Truth: Everything had worth in this world.**

She felt the presence of the man when she was out hunting for berries. There should be raspberries by the stream, and while it was always rough on her to try and find the berries in amongst the thorns, she had a craving and had decided it was worth it.

She was distracted from her thoughts when she felt the presence of another person. She'd ducked behind a tree, staying quiet and listening. There was no movement from that direction, not even the sound of breathing. The presence was a bit faint, almost as if he were asleep.

Slowly, she inched out from around the tree and ventured in that direction.

"Sir?" she asked softly. "Sir?"

No response. Not even a twitch of acknowledgement. She moved forwards, toeing the man with her bare feet. He let out a breath of air. Confused, she knelt beside him and placed her hand on his chest. Almost immediately, she felt warm wet liquid. Her heart sank as she brought her hands to her face. She licked one finger, the metallic tang of blood entering her mouth. He was injured, and badly. Her hands were covered in blood just from this brief brush.

For a moment, she contemplated just leaving and letting him die. It served no purpose for her help him and heal him. She actually could, conceivably, make him feel better. Gathering herbs for such purposes had been one of her many duties, especially right before a raid was planned, and she'd helped patch the men up. Those that weren't too manly to shun medical aid, that was.

Just as quickly, she threw the thought aside. Kimimaro's face drifted in her mind. If someone had found him in this state, she wished beyond anything else they would take him in and heal him. She didn't care if she never saw him after that, so long as she knew he was alive. She didn't even have that luxury.

Mind made up, she grabbed the man under the shoulders and started tugging, pulling him back towards the small cave, really more of a niche in the rock, where she'd made her home in the woods. It was not luxurious, but it was hers, and she was proud of it. She was capable of cooking, sewing, and gathering, so she did not go hungry or want for suitable clothes. The money she'd taken had been enough to buy a few pots and pans, as well as some bedding and thicker clothes for the colder months. There was plenty of wood nearby for fires, and the stream was within easy walking distance.

She set the man down by the fire and fetched her needle and thread, as well as several poultices and tinctures she'd prepared ahead of time. If she ever got injured, she found comfort in knowing that she was prepared to treat herself should she be beyond making usable medicines.

* * *

Satoru Minamoto was not an optimistic man. That said, he wasn't a pessimist either. He was a realist, and he knew that, _realistically_, there wasn't a big chance of him waking up after he collapsed in the woods and being in any state to make a break back to Konoha. He'd thought the escort mission would be easy, which was why he took it on alone. That, and he needed the cash. But he hadn't expected an entire squad of Could-nin to swoop out of nowhere. It was a miracle he made it out of there with his skin mostly connected to his meat.

Satoru blinked his eyes open and found himself lying by a fire. His shirt was gone, and he could see the tattered shreds smoldering on the fire. Might as well use it for heat, as it was nowhere near wearable anymore. He was covered in a blanket, and he shoved it aside, looking down at his torso. His many wounds were covered in clean, white bandages, but he could feel the pull of stitches. He knew by feel that they were well done from extensive experience with having gashes.

That meant someone had found him and tended to him. Either he was about to thank some kindly old hermit, or he was going to have to fight for his life. He was just thinking maybe he might be able to simply sneak away, as there didn't seem to be anyone in the cave, when he saw a small figure shift.

He gaped. It wasn't an enemy, and it certainly wasn't an old hermit. It was a little girl. She stared at him blankly. She was a skinny little thing, slightly dirty, but her clothes were well cared for, if not a bit threadbare. Her face was chubby, but he could see the baby fat was starting to recede, showing prominent cheekbones. Her eyes were a dark blue-green, grey hair parted in a zig-zag. Odd red dots were just above her eyebrows, red smudges under her eyes. He might have thought it was makeup, if not for the fact that the dots were perfectly circular, and also, what homeless kid had makeup? Red dots, that rang a bell… some clan…

"You're awake," the girl said, distracting him. She spoke quietly and cautiously, almost as if she were afraid of him. He couldn't blame her. He was a adult shinobi and she didn't know him. He could easily kill her. "Who are you?"

"How do I know I can trust you?" Satoru asked, although his tone was light. Her eyes narrowed slightly, her jaw hardening.

"You are an adult, male shinobi. How do I know I can trust you?" she shot back with the exact reason he'd just considered.

Inside, she was terrified. This man could kill her, and she knew it. She had her kekkei genkai, sure, but did that mean she knew how to use it? No. She could make a blade, did that mean she could wield one? She could barely use her own power to defend herself, and he had trained for years to fight.

"I'm Satoru Minamoto," he said for the sake of peace. She remained silent. "It's polite to give me your name in response," he goaded gently.

She blinked, looking surprised. "Is it?" she asked, suddenly looking confused. "I'm sorry, I didn't know." It was his turn to blink. Was this girl raised by wolves? "I don't really have a name. The men of my clan called me Nigate though."

Satoru's eyes widened. They didn't give her a name, and then they called her _weak?_ What kind of men did she grow up with? Was if just because she was female, or… He'd noticed that her eyes didn't react when he moved, didn't shift at all.

"Are you... blind?" he ventured. She nodded.

"I am," she said matter-of-factly.

Satoru's heart went out to the little girl. What kind of life had she had, called weak so often she accepted it as a name? He wasn't soft, by any means, but the girl couldn't be more than ten. She was at the age to start at the Academy. She was so young to already be so messed up.

"Do you know what Nigate means?" he asked softly. She shook her head somewhat hesitantly.

"… Does it mean something bad?"

"It means… weak."

"_I am not weak!_" she snapped immediately.

Rage filled her. All this time, they had called her weak, and she hadn't known? She was not weak! She was blind, not helpless! She may not be worth much, but she had her own strengths and weaknesses just like anyone else. Her weaknesses were just a little more obvious. There was a time she had accepted herself as worthless, but with the discovery of her kekkei genkai and her friendship with Kimimaro, she no longer believed that.

It had become one of the truths of her life. Everyone had worth in this world.

Satoru held up his hands when she burst out, before realizing how fruitless the gesture was. He brought them back to the ground with a sigh.

"I didn't say you were. Whoever you grew up with did. What clan are you from, anyway?" Those marks were really bothering him. He knew he'd heard something about them…

"I am a Kaguya," she said somewhat proudly.

Satoru's eyes widened as he remembered. The Kaguya's were some battle-crazy clan near Mist that had all been slaughtered by the shinobi of that village when they tried to invade. He'd heard some other jonin talking about it a few months ago and had brushed it off, thinking them stupid for even bothering to go against an enemy as powerful as Mist with just a handful of men. Someone had made an offhanded comment about how Kaguyas supposedly had red circles on their foreheads. Apparently there was still one left.

She wasn't what he'd expected from a Kaguya. She was thin, but if she'd dragged him here all by herself, then she was definitely strong. She didn't seem violent though. She hadn't left him to die or simply killed him herself. She brought him back here and tended him. Her blindness would have made her useless to the Kaguyas. She'd probably been a sort of servant to them if anything, otherwise they wouldn't have kept her around at all from what he knew of them.

For a moment, he entertained the thought of bringing the girl back with him to Konoha. When winter hit, this cave wouldn't be livable, no matter how big the fire was, and she'd die. The girl had a couple months to live at most if she stayed here. In Konoha, she could grow up in security. He could sense her chakra, and it wasn't that impressive, but for someone her age, she showed potential. Maybe she could be a shinobi.

And there was that rumor that the Kaguya had a very rare, very powerful kekkei genkai. The chances were slim to none, but…

"Hey kid," he said slowly. "Do you have any kind of ability? I heard the Kaguyas had a pretty impressive kekkei genkai."

She gave him a suspicious look. "If I do, are you going to attack me?"

"No," Satoru replied slowly. "I was thinking about taking you back to my village with me and finding you a better home."

She couldn't believe it. This stranger… yes, he owed her for healing him, but to give her a life with food she didn't have to prepare herself, the possibility of friends or even loving parents… It was unreal, something she'd never thought she'd be able to have. She'd heard of those things, but they had no place in the world where she'd grown up. The idea that she might be able to have them… it blew her mind.

And a _shinobi _village. If she could become a shinobi, she would never again be called weak. If she could triumph over her disability, no one would ever be able to look down on her again. She would be the fighter the Kaguya always told her she could not be. She could make the Mist shinobi pay for killing Kimimaro. She could carry on and live for him, experience all the things he never got to. And when she died, she'd find him in the afterlife and tell him all about it, just like she always had.

She had no hesitation as she held out her arm, a bone pushing from her palm. It had hurt at first, and the small amount of blood that leaked out had alarmed her, but with the small amount of practice she was capable of, the pain had lessened and the blood no longer bothered her.

Satoru's eyes widened and he felt vaguely ill. Blood and guts he could handle, but bones… he'd seen too many of them glinting among the wreckage of a person to be completely okay with this display. Still, he sucked it up. If a little kid could handle it, so could he.

And it was an impressive ability. Already Satoru was thinking about all the many advantages the ability to manipulate one's skeletal structure could come in handy in a fight. She could heal a broken bone in no time flat, apparently she could make blades. She could probably make shields as well, maybe even inside her body under the skin. At the end of the day though, it was still just bone.

"How hard is that?" Satoru asked. In response she turned around and struck the wall. The bone slid in like a knife through butter, her palm pressing flat against the wall. She tugged the bone free, leaving a perfect little hole there only visible when the firelight flickered onto it. His eyes widened. The wall of the cave was solid rock, and she'd cut into it like it was nothing.

"Can I see that?" Satoru requested, mildly envious now. He had no kekkei genkai. He'd gotten to be a chunin through pure hard work and determination.

She wordlessly grabbed the bone and tugged, pulling it fully from her palm. The hole in her hand closed up behind it, the blood sucking back into her skin. He knew the medics at the hospital would be envious of that little ability of hers.

He sat up and took the sword from her, shoving the thought that she'd just handed him one of her bones into the back of his mind, and started testing it. He bit it, prodded the point, tried to bend and break it. It gave slightly, but didn't break. He tossed it in the fire, but it didn't crack.

"That's impressive," he said approvingly. "So, do we have a deal? When I'm better, you'll come with me back to Konoha?"

"You would really do that?" she asked, sounding distrustful, but hopeful. He didn't blame her. She probably didn't have much experience with kindness.

"I would. No kid should grow up in a cave. People might say you were raised by wolves," he teased.

She frowned. "I was raised by Kaguyas."

He sighed. This girl would need a lot of work before she was even fit for normal social interaction. "It was a joke…"

"...But it wasn't funny."

"...It was a _bad_ joke."

"I see. Do you tell bad jokes often?"

"… _I_ don't think so."

She went silent and nudged the bone out of the fire, stared at it intently, and it cracked apart. She kicked the bits aside into a corner carelessly. Apparently the bone held up as long as she wanted it to.

"You should rest for at least a day," she advised. "You body needs to heal some before you can move."

"You're the doctor," Satoru said, lying back onto the stone floor. She flushed with pleasure and he grinned slightly. She seemed like a good kid. "You're gonna need a name though, if you're going to be a Konoha shinobi."

"Konoha? Is that your village?" she asked curiously. She moved forwards and sat next to him by the fire, eyes focused intently on his face. Satoru wondered absently how she could tell where it was.

"The Village Hidden in the Leaves," he said proudly. "The largest shinobi village."

"And I will need a name," she repeated. "I… do not like the name Nigate."

"Nobody would," Satoru said wryly.

"I know no other women's names though," she admitted. Satoru blinked.

"Were there no women in your clan?" Satoru asked, startled. Females were a bit important for continuing the clan line…

"Women are weak," she recited, although this time there was an annoyed twist to her mouth as she did. "The men found a woman to sleep with, and if she gave birth the child was brought to the clan. Many died of neglect or illness. The Kaguya do not know how to take care of children. This way ensured only the strongest survived. However, I lived despite my infirmity, so while I could not fight, I was allowed to serve."

"I know a lot of names," Satoru said thoughtfully. "There's a jonin I know named Teruko."

"And what does that mean?" she asked. He looked up at her in surprise. She seemed to sense his look and shrugged in response. "I do not want to unknowingly bear a bad name again."

"I wouldn't give you a bad name," Satoru protested, mildly offended.

"Still, I want to know," she said insisted.

"Uh," he had to wrack his brains. He thought he'd heard her mention it once. "I think it means… shining child?"

She pondered for a moment, and shook her head. "I don't think I like that name."

"Okay, what about… Rin? That one means dignified."

"Am I dignified?" she pondered. "I don't really think so. That would not be a good name for me."

"Why does the meaning matter to you so much?" Satoru mused. It was odd. Sometimes people took pride in the meaning of their names if it was something grand, sometimes they were simply named for their order they were born, other times the meaning was ironic or contrasted with their personality. Overall though, most people didn't care much.

"Your name is who you are," she said strongly. "It is what others know you as. Isn't it deceitful to be known for something you're not? I don't think it matters so much as an object versus a trait. Clearly someone would know you are not a… a stool or something, but they won't know you aren't dignified until they know you for a while."

That made a kind of twisted sense, even though most people were forgiven any discrepancies between their name and personality seeing as they were named as a baby. She didn't have that luxury, so it was understandable that she wanted a name that fit her well.

"Hitomi means pupil," Satoru ventured, unsure if he'd just crossed a line. "That might be a bit to on the nose though…"

She thought that one over for a minute. "I don't think that would be a good choice. Do you… know any flower names?"

"Huh?" Satoru blinked. She wanted something that fit her, and she jumped straight to flowers? "You mean like Ran? That means orchid."

"Like that, but not that one," she said, shaking her head. "He didn't really like orchids."

"Who?" Satoru pressed, eager to find out more about the girl. She smiled sadly.

"My only friend. He loved flowers. He died when my clan attacked the Mist village. I am doing this, going with you, for him. He always wanted to live a free life, but he was never able to, so I will live it for him."

Satoru blinked. This ten-year-old kid was one of the most disturbingly mature children he'd ever met. He supposed being surrounded by people like the Kaguyas she'd probably had to grow up fast. She'd probably experienced death and disdain since she was born and was used to how harsh the world could be. That would make it easier for her to accept some of the missions other struggled with. Maybe he really had made a good choice in taking her with him.

"There's Sakura," he began again. "That means cherry- oh, wait, I think there's already a girl about your age with that name at the Academy."

"I don't want to take her name from her," she said hastily. "It's hers."

"Ume means plum blossom."

She shook her head. "I have never seen those."

"Aoi is hollyhock."

"I don't know what that is either."

"How about Chika? That just means scattered flowers."

"But he liked them in a line," she said thoughtfully. "Not scattered."

Satoru didn't quite know how to respond to that. "Okay, uh… Kiku means chrysanthemum."

"I don't much like that either. It sounds rough."

"I'm running out of flower names here," Satoru complained.

"But you're not out yet," she noticed. He sighed.

"Alright, alright. Umm… Sayuri means lily?" he suggested.

"Lily," she mused. "He liked lilies… I will be Sayuri," she said decidedly. Her face went somewhat hesitant. "Do you know what Kimimaro means?"

"Kimimaro?" he repeated. "Is that your friend?"

She nodded. "I'm hoping he doesn't have a bad name."

"Oh, um… I think Kimi means noble, and I'm not sure after that."

"Noble," she mused, and smiled. "Yes, that is a nice name to have."

The newly-christened Sayuri made dinner for more than just herself for the first time in months that night. Knowing she was going to leave soon, she had no problem pulling out all of the stops. There was a thick, hearty stew, roots, and berries. She even made tea with one of the few packets she'd bought on her trip through the village, saving for a special occasion.

"You're a pretty good cook!" Satoru grinned around a bite of stew. He popped a few berries into his mouth. Thus far he'd been avoiding the roots.

"It was one of my primary duties," Sayuri explained.

"Huh. And what were your other duties?"

"I was to mend and wash clothes, prepare the clan's meals, keep the camp relatively clean, gather food and herbs, and feed Kimimaro," she recited.

"I see. Three meals a day for... how many years?"

"I don't know," Sayuri admitted. "I'm not sure how old I am. I think I am about ten."

"Ten… probably around there. Anyway, that's a lot of practice."

"Eat," Sayuri encouraged, dipping more stew into his bowl. "You will need your strength for tomorrow."

"That's something I've been thinking about," Satoru began somewhat hesitantly. "Is your… disability going to slow us down?" He was wary of offending her in some way. "See, most ninja run in the trees. Are you able?"

"I... _think_ so," Sayuri admitted, shaking her head. "I can hear very well. I will hear where your feet land and I will follow."

"It's not just about knowing where to go," Satoru disagreed. "It's about balance and strength. It takes a lot to keep the pace for a long time."

Sayuri cocked her head. "I am stronger than most girls," she said slowly. "But I am not a shinobi. I will not be able to do what you can do, even after I am trained, I don't think, purely by virtue of my gender. But I will try my best. I will consider this an exercise to build my muscles and learn to pace myself."

Satoru stared at her. This ten-year-old kid just kept blowing my mind. There were plenty of little kids he'd seen who wanted to grow up and be the best without having to build up their muscles. They just thought they could suddenly do these things after one lesson. She understood what most children had to be taught – that it wasn't easy to be a shinobi, and you had to do everything you could to become stronger.

"Are you annoyed that I might slow you down?" she asked suddenly. He blinked.

"What?"

"You stopped chewing," she noted. Satoru realized he had.

"No, just thinking."

"I see," Sayuri nodded. She spooned stew into her mouth slowly and deliberately, chewed, and swallowed. "Do you think I would be a good shinobi?" she asked softly. She touched her eyelids. "I know I will always have to struggle, and I know that I will be at a disadvantage to everyone else. But could I still be of some use?"

"Oh yes," Satoru said confidently. "That kekkei genkai of yours will help keep you alive, I think, and it's a pretty good compliment to your blindness, is a way."

"How so?" Sayuri frowned.

"Well, you can manipulate all your bones, right?"

"Yes, though I haven't been able to practice much."

"Well, you could force bones out to keep enemies back if you can't see them. We'll have to hone your reflexes in case you miss something at first," Satoru said, mind rolling back to the days when he had trained Academy students. He hadn't taught in a couple years. He remembered developing training for each of them based on their strengths and weaknesses. "And if you could spread that bone all the way under your skin, like a membrane… It would be like armor, protecting your internal organs. You'd still have to watch for blood loss, but… I think you could be a very good kunoichi."

"Kunoichi?" Sayuri said blankly.

"Female ninja," he explained, setting his empty bowl aside. Sayuri lowered her eyes.

"Oh, I see. I suppose there is more than I thought that I have to learn. A whole new language." She paused and looked up. "I will be the laughingstock of this Academy you told me about, won't I?"

Satoru contemplated for a moment. "You don't have to start immediately. We could take a few days and work on the basics so you don't go in blind… so to speak."

"You're not going to offend me by mentioning that I'm blind, unless you're purposefully being cruel," Sayuri pointed out. "I'm well aware that I'm blind."

Satoru gave a self-deprecating smile. "It's just going to take some getting used to for me. I don't hang out with kids much."

"I imagine not. Sleep," Sayuri encouraged. "You are not fully healed, and the rest will do you good for our traveling tomorrow. I still have to pack."

"What do you have to pack?" Satoru asked blankly. "Konoha will supply you with a furnished apartment seeing as you're a minor shinobi-in-training."

"I still need clothes, the spare money I have left, and the flowers."

"What flowers?" Satoru said blankly, casting around. There were no bright spots of color that would indicate flowers anywhere around the cave.

Sayuri stood and moved deftly around the fire, guiding herself with the feel of the heat towards the bed of blankets. She reached into the small gap between them and the wall and began drawing out the flowers one by one and setting them out in a line for Satoru to see.

"Who made these?" he asked in surprise, picking up a highly-detailed dandelion. He turned it over in his hand, admiring the texture added to the flower itself. "That Kimimaro friend of yours?"

"I did. I made them for him," Sayuri admitted. Satoru looked at her in surprise, and then his glance slid to her hands. They were scarred, cuts and nicks decorating the fingers and palms, just like the hands of any other woodworker he'd ever seen. He supposed she was used to living purely off what she felt and heard, so translating what she touched into the wood with a large amount of accuracy was probably very easy for her.

"They're very good," Satoru praised. "You could make a fortune off these in the market."

"I'm not selling them!" Sayuri snapped. Even the idea of selling the flowers Kimimaro so treasured turned her stomach.

Satoru held up his hands defensively. "I didn't say you had to. But if you ever needed cash, you could definitely sell carvings. You're pretty good."

"Thank you," Sayuri said, dipping her head politely. "Rest," she insisted. "I will pack and you can return home in the morning."

* * *

**Go Sayuri, way to have a decent name! An a bit of backbone! Told you she wasn't going to be Miss Doormat for long.**


	3. Weakness

**Truth: She would not be weak ever again.**

Satoru woke to a completely different cave the next morning, and a tired little girl. The sheets and bedding had been packed away, along with the pots and pan, flowers, sewing kit, and spare clothes, into a backpack thrown over Sayuri's shoulders. Her fire was gone, the ash swept out of the cave. The only sign anyone had ever inhabited it was the pile of firewood stacked along one wall.

"I see you weren't kidding about leaving in the morning," Satoru chuckled. "Were you even planning to have breakfast?"

"I am eager," Sayuri admitted. "There is a place by the river, where we can find berries for breakfast. Is that alright?"

"That works," Satoru said, throwing the covers off of him. Sayuri took them and folded them, placing them in the bulging backpack. She reached inside and drew out a large shirt, far too large for her, and not in the traditional style she seemed to favor. She handed it to him somewhat shyly.

"I had to tear your shirt to get at the wounds," she explained. "I hope this will suffice until you can get to your own clothing.

"Thanks," Satoru said gratefully, taking it from her. He was careful, wincing a bit as he tugged it on, but his stitches only pulled instead of tearing. He looked down, noticing it was a dark material that used to be one of her blankets. It also fit perfectly.

"You guessed my size," he noticed.

"No," Sayuri said, shaking her head. "I learn how people look by touch and description." She held up her hands and wiggled her fingers. "I got a hypothetical look at you while dressing your wounds and worked from there."

Satoru was torn between feeling disturbed, mildly violated, and impressed. He just said, "ah," and plucked at the shirt.

"I can guide us to the river," Sayuri said, jerking her head towards the mouth of the cave.

"Lead on," Satoru said. He was starting to feel his energy coming back now that he was moving and on his way home. Granted, he was coming back with a report of failure, but maybe a new kunoichi would soften the blow.

He watched as Sayuri guided them to the water. She walked with an odd gait, and at first he couldn't figure it out, but then he realized. Instead of setting the heel of her foot down with each step, she put her toes down first and then settled her foot firmly, testing the ground. Not only did it keep her from stepping into holes, it also made her footsteps quieter. He supposed it would be to her advantage to stay as quiet as possible, so she could hear other noises and learn what was going on around her.

It wasn't hard for Sayuri to get them to the river. It's rushing could be heard from the cave. She guided Satoru to the blackberry bushes and the two of them began plucking berries. Satoru happily munched on the fruit. It had been a while since he'd had produce this fresh. He glanced to the side and winced when he saw Sayuri's hands. They were scratched and bleeding. She was heedless of the thorns, not even trying to avoid them.

"Here," Satoru said, pulling a spare pair of gloves out and offering them to her. She reached in his general direction and he placed the gloves on her hand. She twisted her wrist so they were in her palm, running her fingers over it cautiously. "Gloves," he supplied.

"No," Sayuri said, shaking her head. "They cover my fingers. I don't like it."

"You're cutting your hands to ribbons," he protested. "Just for now."

"No," she insisted forcefully. "Cuts are nothing. I've cut myself so many times they don't bother me. I don't even feel them anymore."

He blinked at that, and put his gloves away.

They ate a few more berries, drank a few mouthfuls from the river and filled their canteens, and then they took to the trees. Satoru jumped up and crouched onto a branch easily but Sayuri had to scale it, walking out along the branch to stand by him.

"Focus your chakra on your soles, it'll help get your balance," Satoru encouraged absently.

"Chakra?" Sayuri said blankly. Satoru winced. She wasn't kidding when she said she was behind. She really would be the laughingstock of the Academy if she arrived without even knowing what chakra was. Satoru thought carefully. They were very close to the border of the Land of Fire. They'd probably be home free within the hour. It's take two days to get all the way back to Konoha.

"How would you feel about a lecture?" Satoru asked. "Feel up to it? Can you learn on the go?"

"Yes," Sayuri said, nodding determinedly.

"Then follow me, and listen up."

Satoru talked as they went, digging deep into his memory for all of the theory he'd learned back in his days in the Academy. He talked as they moved. It was a snail's pace for him. Sayuri frequently landed wrong or misstepped or wasn't able to jump far enough to the next branch. He'd stop and wait, still talking, while she pulled herself back up into the tree and they started moving again, only to repeat the process.

It was good for both of them. Satoru reviewed things he hadn't had to consciously think about in years, refreshing his memory, and Sayuri learned, as well as getting a workout. She was panting heavily within two hours but she still kept going without complaint, impressing Satoru with her determination. She was definitely not a complainer. She seemed to understand that this was necessary.

Satoru had it a bit more difficult as they light began to fade, but Sayuri didn't even notice and just kept going in her fall-climb-run-slip-repeat pattern. It was completely dark when they stopped at an inn, and Satoru paid for their room. They stayed together, because Satoru didn't completely trust her ability to maneuver on her own.

They didn't immediately bed down for the evening though. Satoru looked Sayuri over as they stood behind the inn. She was slumped, panting, and shaking with exhaustion. She was covered in bruises, scrapes, and dirt from her many falls. It was a miracle she hadn't twisted or broken something. Still, she was slowing them down a lot more than he'd expected. He understood her problem, of course, and he was sympathetic, but he also wanted to get home, and she needed to learn.

The problem was, they didn't have time for The Hokage would insist that if she was going to be a kunoichi of Konoha she needed to start in the Academy as soon as possible to make up for lost time. He'd probably be able to bargain maybe a week to catch her up. There was no time to start her off with floaties, he just had to throw her into the deep end.

"Here's what we're going to do," Satoru said. "You're going to climb a tree."

Sayuri frowned. "I've been doing that all day," she said sharply. Tiredness was making her snappy.

"Yeah, but this time you're going to use chakra," Satoru said, deciding not to comment on her tone. Normally you wouldn't try this exercise until you were a genin, but it suited their purposes for speeding travel and it would help improve her chakra control. "You remember what I told you about how to release chakra?"

"Yes."

"Try it."

Sayuri did, and was surprised at how easily it came to her. Satoru was as well.

"I've always been able to feel the presence of different people, to know when they move," Sayuri admitted softly. "Is it… am I sensing their chakra?"

"That's what it sounds like, but at a far greater range than people twice your age," Satoru said, biting his thumb thoughtfully. _A sensor-type, interesting_. "I suppose it's something your body's done automatically to make up for your blindness. The Kaguya don't usually use ninjutsu or genjutsu, only taijutsu, but my guess is you felt some chakra released and your body automatically started recognizing it. This is a huge advantage. You'll be able to tell where people are and how they move. Coupled with your hearing, you shouldn't need your eyes for much. I'd imagine releasing chakra is so easy for you know because you've unknowingly been observing it for years."

"So how do I apply this to tree climbing?" Sayuri asked.

"You can use the chakra to seal your feet to the tree, directing it to the bottoms of your feet," Satoru instructed. "But it's tricky. Too much and the bark will crack and you'll be thrown back. Too little, and you'll just fall off. Watch me," he instructed. Sayuri snorted quietly and he corrected himself. "Listen, then."

He put one foot on the tree, then another, walking slowly up the side.

"I see," Sayuri said from the ground. Satoru kicked off the tree and twisted, landing on the ground in a crouch.

"Figuratively, of course," he said with a small chuckle. She smiled slightly.

"So the trick is to find the balance," Sayuri mused. "Find and maintain it."

"Yes," Satoru nodded. "Most people start out running at the tree to get more momentum, but I think that might not be the best plan. You might miss the tree entirely and wouldn't know when to start up it."

"Fair point," Sayuri said, walking over to the tree. She placed her hands on it, rubbing them up and down and pressing on the bark. She channeled chakra into her hands first, getting a feel for how it worked. When her hands began to crack the bark, she eased up, when they began to slide, she added more. She was still no expert on manipulating chakra, and she frequently went too far in one direction or the other.

"You're not going up on your hands," Satoru pointed out. Sayuri nodded absently and stepped back, putting one foot against the trunk. She concentrated, sealing her foot to the trunk, and then added another.

She hadn't expected it to be this difficult. Forget it taking a lot of concentration to keep her chakra going at a steady rate in one foot while adjusting the second, she also had to use muscles in her core that she simply didn't have to keep herself from flopping backwards towards the ground like a ragdoll. Sayuri grunted with the effort to keep her body straight. She made it one more step before her muscles gave out and she fell back, the distraction breaking her concentration. She toppled to the ground and landed on her rear.

"I didn't think about that," Satoru mused worriedly. "You haven't built up the muscle most shinobi have."

"Then I will," Sayuri said shortly, and she placed her feet on the tree again. Satoru blinked at the vehemence in her voice but said nothing as the attacked her task with determination. She settled back against a tree, listening to her efforts more than watching in the dim moonlight. Eventually his wounds caught up with him and he fell asleep.

* * *

Satoru blinked his eyes open the next morning and the first thing that registered was the smell of food. He glanced to the side wearily and saw bacon and eggs waiting for him on a plate, enough for several people. Then he heard the sound of grunting and labored breaths and looked up, eyes widening.

Sayuri looked like hell. There were deep circles under her eyes, and the rest of her face was red from exertion. Her hair was a wreck, filthy and sticking out in all directions. Her clothes were more dirty than clean. Every bare patch of skin showed bruises or cuts from her many, many falls. She was dripping sweat, but she was halfway up the tree before she fell with a growl of irritation, landing on her back on the ground. She lay there for a moment, panting.

"You're awake," she noted.

"You've been working all night," Satoru said blankly.

"Have I?" Sayuri said absently. "It felt like a while. It got warmer at one point. I assume that was the sun coming up."

He'd assumed she would eventually go back inside and sleep. She hadn't eaten or rested in twenty-four hours, and by the lack of her canteen, she likely hadn't had anything to drink in a while.

"Stop," Satoru said sternly.

"No," Sayuri protested. "I'm getting better, I am!"

"I can see that," Satoru soothed. "But you're going to kill yourself if you keep going at this rate!"

"I will not walk into the Academy weak!" Sayuri snapped. She would not be weak ever again; it was another new truth to her life.

She panted, glaring at Satoru, whose jaw tightened. Inferiority complexes notwithstanding, Sayuri had a lifetime of being dumped on to overcome, and that wasn't going to be fixed with a few days. She was fighting to be stronger, to prove she wasn't weak. He'd known shinobi who struggled their whole lives to prove the exact same thing, and they ended up dead.

She may have some advantageous adaptations already built up to counter her blindness that would pay off when her training began and on missions, but she also had a lot of baggage. Whoever that Kimimaro guy was, there seemed to be a lot of emotion tied up there, as well as with the name 'Nigate' and what it meant. Did he have the _right_ to tell her to stop?

Satoru looked her over. Shaking, muscle spasms, labored breathing… He was no med-nin, but any shinobi worthy of the name knew the signs of chakra exhaustion. No matter how much she worked, Sayuri would be entering the Academy weaker than the other students who'd been training for months, if not years. As far as physical energy, rough living had made her stronger than most girls her age and older, but not as strong as real training would. Spiritual energy, the other necessity for chakra, was what she really lacked. It was developed through experience, and she had none. Her chakra levels were very low.

"Eat something, and then we'll move on. We should arrive in Konoha by the end of the day," Satoru said, changing the subject. He may have sounded casual, but there was an underlying steel in his voice that said she better do as he said.

"Alright," Sayuri submitted. She got to her feet and moved towards the inn.

"Where are you going?" Satoru asked in surprise.

"To get food…" Sayuri replied blankly, gesturing vaguely in the direction of the building.

"Here, eat some of this," Satoru invited, pointing at his plate. "You got me way too much anyway."

Sayuri looked at him as if he'd just announced he was going to quit being a shinobi and open a pottery studio. "You're… sharing your food with me?" she asked, looking awed.

"Yeah," Satoru said slowly, suddenly feeling uncomfortable. "Is that so odd?"

"Yes," Sayuri nodded matter-of-factly. "I only ever got what I made for myself. I was never allowed to eat the leftovers unless I snuck them."

"Oh," Satoru said, back on his heels a bit. "Well, it's pretty normal for people to share their food with friends and family and stuff."

"Are we friends then?" Sayuri asked softly.

"I… well, I suppose so," he blinked. He shook his head. It was too early for this kind of deep thinking. "Now come on and eat. We need to get on the road soon."

Sayuri eagerly moved to kneel in front of him, picking food from the plate and shoving it in her mouth. She ate politely, taking small bites and chewing with her mouth closed.

"You've got to have the best table manners of any kid I've ever met," Satoru snorted.

"I hate it when people eat loudly," Sayuri winced, the first true complaint he'd ever heard her make. "It's distracting, not to mention disgusting."

"I can see that," Satoru nodded.

The two polished off their meal and settled up with the innkeeper. He was nice enough not to make them pay for the room, since they hadn't actually used it. That done, they took to the trees once more.

Satoru noted a vast improvement in Sayuri between yesterday and today. Her chakra control was better and she was able to use it to seal her feet to the branches more securely. There were fewer slip and fall incidents, and this time she was able to catch herself more often than not.

"I… feel… people," Sayuri panted as the sun began its descent. "Are we… getting… close?"

"Another twenty minutes," Satoru approximated. "I'll have to take you straight to the Hokage, so there'll be no time to clean up."

"That's fine," Sayuri said.

Soon she couldn't just feel the people, she could hear them.

"Hey, Satoru, took you long enough to get back!" called a voice as Sayuri followed the sound of Satoru's footsteps out of the trees.

"Izumo, Kotetsu, are you guys on gate duty again?" Satoru greeted.

"Yeah," groaned a different voice. "It's so boring. Tell us you saw some action? We can live vicariously through you."

"I got my a-butt kicked," Satoru corrected hastily, glancing at Sayuri, who was shifting uncomfortably. Her head kept twitching around in the direction of random noises, "by some Cloud-nin. Six to one," he winced.

"I see you've got a spare," said the first voice, and Sayuri knew he was talking about her.

"Introduce yourself," Satoru said, pushing Sayuri forwards gently.

"Izumo Kamizuki," said the second voice.

"And I'm Kotetsu Hagane."

They both stuck out their hands to her, but she didn't reach for them. She just nodded her head and mumbled, "Sayuri." They looked at Satoru questioningly.

"She's blind," Satoru explained. They both blinked, surprised.

"Oh, I see," Izumo said.

"I'm sorry, did you do something?" Sayuri asked blankly. "I wasn't paying proper attention, I…" She reached out, hand moving slowly towards Izumo's. He grabbed her hand and shook, then passed her off to Kotetsu.

"She found me bleeding in the woods near the border," Satoru explained. "Patched me up, and agreed to some back here and be a Konoha shinobi when I offered her the chance."

"You're taking her to Lord Hokage?" Izumo asked.

"Yeah," Satoru nodded. "We'd better get going. I hope Lord Hokage will be able to squeeze us in."

"See you," Kotetsu nodded.

"Good luck, Sayuri," Izumo added.

"Might be a good idea to hang onto me so we don't get separated," Satoru advised as they entered the main portion of the city. It was even louder here, and people brushed past her she followed closely in Satoru's footsteps.

"It's so loud," Sayuri said, dizzied by the cacophony of voices and touches. She caught the edge of Satoru's sleeve and trailed closely as he led her into a building.

"Stairs," he warned as they reached a flight. Stairs slowed her down at first, but she quickly got the hang of the height of them, and guided herself with her free hand on the rail. They entered a hallway and through another door.

"Is the Hokage free for a minute?" Satoru asked softly.

"Concerning?" asked a cool, female voice.

"I found this girl on a mission. She wants to become a shinobi of the Leaf," Satoru said, laying a hand on Sayuri's shoulder.

"Just a moment," the woman said. There was the scrape of a chair, soft footsteps, and a door opening and closing. Sayuri guessed they were in an area outside this Hokage's office. A moment later the door opened again and the woman stepped out. "The Hokage will see you now."

"Come on," Satoru said, tugging Sayuri forwards. She stumbled after him into a different room and the woman shut the door behind them.

"Satoru, this is a surprise," said a gruff, old man's voice. Sayuri assumed this was the Hokage and she suddenly felt nervous. Would he like her? Would he let her become a shinobi? Would he turn her down because of her blindness? She didn't realize she was trembling with nerves and fear until Satoru laid a hand on her shoulder.

"Lord Hokage, I was injured on my mission," Satoru explained. "I fell unconscious in a patch of woods. This girl took me to the cave where she was living and patched me up and fed me. Apparently she'd from a shinobi clan that was wiped out. She very much wants to become a Konoha shinobi, sir," Satoru said respectfully.

"I see," the Hokage rumbled. "What is your name, child?"

"S-Sayuri K-Kaguya," she stammered.

"Kaguya?" the Hokage repeated in surprise. "I thought they were all killed when they attacked Mist?"

"I was never allowed to fight," Sayuri explained softly. "I stayed behind to mind the camp. I was to have a celebratory meal ready when they returned. They never returned."

"I suppose it's because you were a girl," the Hokage mused. "So many people underestimate women as fighters."

"No, sir," Sayuri said respectfully. "It's because I'm blind."

"Blind?" the Hokage questioned, looking at Satoru questioningly.

"My lord, she's adapted well," Satoru jumped in. "Her other senses are heightened and she's definitely a sensor-type. It seems she'd learned to recognize the feel of a person's chakra and identify them and their movements by it."

"Interesting," the Hokage said. There was a squeak and Sayuri imagined he'd leaned back in his chair. "And how well do you maneuver, Sayuri."

"I think very well," Sayuri said, her voice getting stronger. This man wasn't so scary. He sounded calm, kind, and wise. She wondered if this is how grandfathers sounded when addressing their grandchildren. "I can guide myself away from walls and uneven ground with my hands and feet, and I can follow people's footsteps no matter how quiet they are. When I'm familiar with a place then I don't even need that."

"Very well indeed," the Hokage agreed thoughtfully. "Sayuri, could you step outside a moment? I'd like to speak to Satoru privately."

"Of course, sir," Sayuri said, instinctively dipping her head submissively. She turned and headed in the direction of the door. Her hand found the knob after only a moment and she stepped outside, closing the door behind her.

"Does the Hokage want something?" the woman from before asked.

"He just wanted to speak to Satoru alone," she said, leaning against the wall beside the door and closing her eyes. For all intents and purposes it looked like she was resting, but in reality, she was listening.

"Satoru, a blind girl?" the Hokage was asking. "Do you really think she could become a kunoichi? And she's so far behind at the Academy."

"I could give her lessons after classes," Satoru suggested.

"Would you really?" the Hokage asked in surprise. "It would cut into the number of missions you were able to take dramatically."

There was a rustle of fabric and Sayuri imagined Satoru shrugging. "I miss teaching a bit," he admitted sheepishly. "I lectured her on theory the whole way here, and I realized I do miss it. Not the classroom dynamic, but I miss teaching. I'm good at it. I got her halfway up climbing a tree in one day," he finished proudly.

"Did you?" the Hokage asked in surprise. "I see. That's promising, then, if she can learn so quickly. She might stand a chance at catching up. What are her attributes and weaknesses, that you've observed?"

"Sayuri learns fast and doesn't complain. She had a lot of potential for chakra control, and she's already a good sensor. Obviously she'd be immune to dojutsu and other forms of genjutsu might be weak against her. She should be able to sense most kinds of ninjutsu. Her kekkei genkai could be amazing when fully developed. I've got some idea for how it could be used, and she might end up with an almost perfect defense and offense. I think she might be a good candidate for taijutsu."

"Why taijutsu?" the Hokage pressed. "Surely she'd struggle."

"From what she's explained, her type of sensing involves sensing individual sources of chakra and the small pulses of energy used to move. I think that would make her good at taijutsu."

"Interesting," the Hokage mused. "I heard of another girl with similar talents. Not a shinobi, but blind. She learned to read the movements of people around her by sensing chakra."

"It's not unheard of then," Satoru nodded.

"No. And her weaknesses?"

"The obvious, of course," Satoru began. "But she's good at compensating. She would probably never be very good at genjutsu, if she can use it at all. So much of it requires eye contact for concentration. She'll probably be very weak against wind-based ninjutsu. There's also…" He paused.

"What?" the Hokage coaxed.

"Well, the people of her clan… they called her Nigate."

For a moment, the Hokage was silent. "I see," he said grimly. "I can assume she's developed a bit of an obsession with proving them wrong?"

"Chakra exhaustion," Satoru nodded. "I gave her a task and she just… didn't stop."

"That can be a very large weakness. Some shinobi can get far by simply not acknowledging their limits, but others will only burn themselves out. Only time will tell what kind she is." The Hokage's chair creaked. "Even if she weren't accepted into the training program, which I've decided she will be-"

Here Sayuri had to restrain a squeal by clapping her hands over her mouth.

"-I still wouldn't turn her away. She'll need a place to stay. I'm hesitant to leave her on her own, both because of her disability and because of how unfamiliar Konoha will be to her. At least at first-"

"I could take her in," Satoru jumped in immediately.

"You're going very far out of your way for this girl," the Hokage observed slowly.

"I like her," Satoru admitted quietly. "And I think she deserves a chance at being normal."

"By becoming a shinobi?" the Hokage replied drily.

"Well, you know what I mean."

"Fine then," the Hokage nodded. "You know, of course, about the fund set up for orphan shinobi and children we take in. She'll need supplies. You're free to use the fund to pay for her things.

There was the sound of a pen scratching, and then a sharp tap.

"This will allow you to use it. Simply show it to any store worker and they'll know what to do," the Hokage instructed over the sound of rustling paper.

"Thank you, Lord Hokage," Satoru replied.

"Sayuri? You may come in now."

Sayuri walked inside, completely aware that the large grin on her face was giving her away, but she couldn't seem to make it go away. The expression was unfamiliar, and it sort of hurt her cheeks, but it was a good kind of pain.

"Going by your expression, I'm assuming you heard everything we said," the Hokage chuckled. Sayuri flushed.

"Yes sir."

"Well, I'm pleased to welcome you, Sayuri Kaguya, to the Konohagakura Academy training program," the Hokage said.

Sayuri beamed.


	4. Possibilities

**Truth: It was possible for her to have friends.**

Sayuri's smile wouldn't go away even as she and Satoru returned to his house. He gave her some old, baggy clothes to sleep in and showed her how to take a shower, which awed her. She spent several minutes just standing under the shower head, letting the hot water run over her fingers. Usually the only baths she got involved jumping in a freezing stream and scrubbing with whatever scrap of cloth she could find. When she was really lucky, she managed to sneak a small piece of soap from one of the Kaguyas.

"I have a week to get you as ready as possible for the Academy, and I'm not going to go easy on you," Satoru warned as they ate that night. After being briefly shown around the kitchen, Sayuri had insisted on making him dinner in thanks, and he was completely okay with that. She was a much better cook than he was.

"Please don't," Sayuri begged. "I want to learn as much as I can."

"We'll be starting tomorrow. I'll be going to the hospital in the morning to get my stitches out, so don't freak out if you wake up and I'm not here. I've arranged for a friend of mine, Ayano Soma, to take you to get clothes and the supplies you'll need for school. She'll make sure you're prepared. Give her the piece of paper I left on the table by the door. She'll know what to do with it. I put your clothes in the wash, so you'll be able to wear something clean tomorrow," Satoru said, shifting uncomfortably and feeling incredibly domesticated. _Great Kages, I sound like her father! _"When you get back, we'll start training. I want you back by noon, at the latest. I know it takes girls a while to shop."

Sayuri paused, a bite of rice halfway to her mouth. "Does it? Do I _have_ to take a while? I'd like to finish quickly so I can train."

_Right, I forgot I was talking to one of the world's most socially ignorant kids._

"You don't _have_ to," Satoru explained. "It's just kind of a stereotype."

"A what?" Sayuri said blankly.

"It's like an accepted image of a group."

"I see," Sayuri said, nodding thoughtfully. "A stereotype. That's an odd word," she mused, then jumped back on track. "So I can finish quickly?" she confirmed.

"Yeah," Satoru nodded. "But there's a lot to get, you know. It will probably take a while anyway."

"I see," Sayuri nodded. "Would it be possible for you to make me a list of things I'll need?"

He blinked. "Huh? Wait, you really want a list?"

Sayuri hastily added, "If it's not too much trouble, of course."

"No, it's fine," Satoru quickly agreed. "I'll put it on the table with the other paper. I'm just surprised. Most kids your age aren't very organized."

"I like lists," Sayuri shrugged. "They helped me remember what I had to accomplish that day. That way I made sure I didn't leave anything out when I talked to Kimimaro."

"This Kimimaro guy was pretty important to you, huh?" Satoru noticed.

"Oh yes," Sayuri said softly. "He was my only friend. I loved him. I miss him," she sighed.

"Hey, no long faces!" Satoru said hastily as he saw her begin to tear up slightly. "You're going to be a shinobi, you should be excited, not depressed!"

"You're right," Sayuri said, wiping her eyes. "I should not be sad for Kimimaro. He's supposed to be in a better place now, right?" she asked hopefully. "I've heard that before."

"That's the way to think!" Satoru encouraged. "You go on to bed, you've got a big day tomorrow."

"No, I will clean up," Sayuri disagreed, standing and taking their empty plates to the sink. She found the faucet quickly and turned it on, testing the water with her fingers.

"You dry, I'll wash," Satoru bargained, gently pushing her to the side of the sink and handing her a dishrag.

"Alright," she relented, taking the dishrag. Working together, they quickly finished off the dishes and were able to get to bed fast.

* * *

The next morning Satoru woke at six, as usual, and was shocked to smell breakfast cooking. He rolled out of bed, ruffled his brown hair, and headed for the living room/kitchen/dining room that made up the majority of his apartment.

Sayuri had insisted on taking the couch even after he offered her the bed, and the sheets he'd laid out for her were neatly folded with the pillow sitting on top, resting on the arm. The living room seemed to have been dusted, the kitchen swept, and whole place generally straightened. She was dressed, the clothes she'd worn last night laundered and waiting in a basket by his door to be put away. Two plates of breakfast rested on the dining room table, still steaming. Sayuri was putting away whatever dishes she'd used to make breakfast, having apparently already washed them.

"Good morning," she greeted. Satoru gaped.

"How… what… How long have you been up?"

"Since about five," she shrugged. "That's when I usually get up."

"The sun isn't even up yet!" Satoru exclaimed. "What's wrong with you?"

She paused, a wooden mixing spoon in hand. "Is it wrong to get up that early?" she asked worriedly.

"No, no!" Satoru said, smacking his face into his hand.

"Did you just… hit yourself?"

"A little."

"Why…?"

"Don't take things so literally or you'll end up really confused," he warned. "I didn't mean it was wrong, I just meant that most people don't. I'm not a morning person. I don't get how people get up early and actually accomplish things."

"Why else would you get up early?"

"I don't know, some people like to watch the sunrise or meditate or something," Satoru shrugged, shuffling towards the table.

"I can't watch the sunrise and meditation has always sounded very dull to me," Sayuri said, putting away the last of the dishes.

"I agree. Is there any-?"

"Coffee," Sayuri said, placing a mug of it before him.

"You're amazing," Satoru whimpered in pleasure, taking a long gulp of the life-giving caffeine. He already felt better.

"Thank you," Sayuri smiled, pleased. "So I did well?"

"You did _very _well," Satoru praised. "But you know, you don't have to do all this. It's not really necessary."

"This is how I can pay you back!" Sayuri insisted. "You've been so nice to me. You brought me here, gave me a place to stay, and argued my case to the Hokage. Doing chores is the least I can do to thank you. Besides, it's what I've always done. I don't know what I'd do with my time if I didn't do chores," she admitted.

"We need to find you a hobby," Satoru sighed.

Satoru finished his breakfast and left for the hospital to get his stitches removed and to hand in his report. Sayuri busied herself with cleaning the breakfast plates and putting them away. After that she looked around for something to do. She'd already dusted, swept, straightened, done laundry, cooked, cleaned the dishes…

She was just starting a plan to wash the curtains when there was a knock on the door. Sayuri ran to it eagerly and opened it. There was a woman outside, leaning against the wall.

"Are you Sayuri Kaguya?" the woman asked lazily.

"Yes. Are you Ayano Soma."

"The one and only," the woman said, a small smile in her voice. "Satoru said you need to get… well, pretty much everything."

"Yes," Sayuri admitted. "Oh!" she exclaimed, recalling Satoru's instructions the night before. Her hands groped on the table until she found the pieces of paper and picked them up, handing them to Ayano.

"Satoru said you'd know what to do with it?" she said hesitantly.

"Yeah, yeah. This just means you've got a lot of cash to use. This little shopping spree is on Konoha's funds." Ayano paused and Sayuri assumed she was reading the list. "Wow, he wasn't kidding. You do need a lot of stuff. Well, come on. If he wants you back by noon, we've got three hours. Might even be able to get lunch," Ayano mused absently. "Then again, you probably shouldn't eat much. Satoru's a harsh teacher."

"Good," Sayuri said determinedly. "I don't want to walk into the Academy in a week unprepared."

"No kidding, those kids would eat you alive," Ayano snorted. "Well, come on, I know a place that has a good selection of clothes. What kind of style do you like anyway? Looks like kind of traditional…"

"Before we go," Sayuri began nervously.

"Eh? What?"

"Can I touch your face?" Sayuri blurted. Ayano blinked at her.

"Say what?"

"I want to know what you look like," Sayuri explained.

"Uh, why can't I just tell you?"

"This way I get more detail. Besides, the way people see themselves sometimes isn't how they really look."

Ayano whistled. "Wow kid, that was deep. Yeah, sure, go for it."

"What color are your eyes?" Sayuri asked as she stroked Ayano's cheeks, before moving to her nose. "Your hair?"

"Uh, my eyes are blue, and my hair's sort of a turquoise color."

"Hair can be that color?" Sayuri said in surprise.

"... 'parently so."

"I see," Sayuri mused, passing over her forehead one last time before pulling her hands back. "Thank you. I feel so much better when I know what the person I'm talking to looks like."

"Makes sense," Ayano nodded. "Well, come on, let's go."

Sayuri followed her through the streets of Konoha. Again the sound bothered her, but this time she was better at filtering it and it made it easier to focus. She followed Ayano closely through the streets, keeping track of the distance and every turn from the house, trying to learn how to navigate through the city.

The sound faded as they stepped through a door and she assumed they'd entered a store.

"Weapons first," Ayano said with a wicked grin as she grabbed a basket from the stack by the door. When you were shopping for weapons, it was always best to use a basket. If you needed several, it got tricky to balance without sliced hands.

"You know how to use anything?" she asked.

"I know how to use a knife to carve," Sayuri said. "That's all. And I don't really need knives."

"Eh? Why?"

Sayuri stretched her hands out. The bone pushed through her palm and took on the shape of a wickedly sharp short sword.

"Ah, right, Kaguya," Ayano said, smacking herself in the forehead.

"Did you just hit yourself?"

"Yeah. I forgot about that freaky kekkei genkai. Why?"

"People seem to do that often around me lately," Sayuri said thoughtfully. "I wonder why?" Ayano restrained a chuckle.

_I like this kid. _

"Alright, well, knives or not, you'll need some standard equipment. Kunai, shuriken, an equipment pouch…" she reeled off. "Come on, over here."

Sayuri followed Ayano's footsteps over to a shelf. Ayano handed her a kunai and a shuriken.

"These'll be your bread and butter as a shinobi," she said.

"I understand," Sayuri nodded. She ran a hand carelessly along the edge of the kunai and opened a small cut.

"Hey, hey, watch it!" Ayano cried, yanking the weapons back. "Don't slice yourself!"

"I doesn't matter," Sayuri shrugged carelessly, popping her finger in her mouth and sucking. "It's just a cut," she added around her finger. Ayano's eyes roamed over the many scratches and cuts on the girl's weathered hands. Clearly she was used to hard work. She glanced back at the list in Satoru's handwriting, finally understanding the line that read _and for god's sake, get her some fingerless gloves!_

"Yeah, well, people will think you're kind of dumb if you go around cutting yourself with your own weapons," Ayano countered, dropping two braces of each weapon into the basket. "That's why we have special holders for these sorts of things," she added, grabbing a standard blue kunai holster from a nearby shelf and putting it in too.

"Always good to have some senbon," she said cheerily, tossing a box of them in with some oil, a whet stone, and extra wrapping. "The oil is to keep your metal equipment clean. In case the grips start wearing out, you can rewrap them. Satoru can show you how. The whetstone is to keep them all sharp.

"Next up you'll need an equipment pouch," Ayano said, moving towards another part of the shop. "Got any color preferences?"

"Something subtle?" Sayuri suggested in confusion.

"Nice going," Ayano chuckled, putting a standard tan one into the basket. "I'd have been kind of disappointed if you were like some of those kunoichi who want all their stuff pink and sparkly or monogrammed. Idiots," she snorted. "Just makes it easier to pick you out of crowd.

"You don't need to take this to the Academy with you, but we might as well get it while we're here. You won't need the kunai and shuriken every day either, just on days with practical lessons. Like I said though, best to go ahead and be prepared. Over here now," Ayano instructed.

Sayuri felt a bit like a trained dog as she followed Ayano through the store, listening to her talk. She knew though that Ayano was more experienced here and knew what she needed better than Sayuri herself did. When they began looking for things like clothes and toiletries she'd contribute more.

"Now, those hip pouches contain a lot of stuff," Ayano explained. "It varies from ninja to ninja depending on what kind of mission they're going on, but there's some standard stuff everybody should have on hand, and you'll probably need it for your lessons with Satoru. I bet he'd let you use some of his stuff, but it's better to just have your own. Smoke bombs. Flash bombs. Sealing scrolls. Explosive tags." Between each was a clatter as Ayano tossed some into the basket.

"Now, do you think you might like to wear arm guards or leg guards?" Ayano asked. "We can get those here too."

Sayuri thought for a minute. "No, I think it would get in the way of the bones."

"You mean you can do that everywhere?" Ayano asked, restraining a shudder. There was a _reason_ she wasn't a med-nin like her father wanted her to be.

"Yes," Sayuri nodded. "I've only ever practiced with my hands though."

"Well then you'd better get on that, kid. That's a useful skill to have. How tough are those bones?"

"Harder than steel, if I want them to be," Sayuri said proudly. Ayano raised an eyebrow.

"Huh. Well now, no wonder Satoru was interested." There was a clatter as she tossed a few more things into the basket. "Food and blood pills," she explained. "Like I said, you probably won't need them for a while, but we're here, and who knows how long this free spending pass from the Hokage will last? That's it for here," she said, guiding Sayuri towards the counter.

"Wow Ayano, planning to go to war?" snorted the cashier, looking at the overflowing basket. He started taking things out and ringing them up, shaking his head in amusement.

"This is Sayuri," Ayano said, placing a hand on the girl's shoulder.

"Hello," Sayuri greeted softly.

"She's starting the Academy. I'm getting her the starter kit."

"She looks kind of old," the cashier replied skeptically.

"This should explain it," Ayano said, dramatically pulling out the paper with the approval from the Hokage.

"Oh. From the outside world," the cashier said dramatically. "Well, good luck kid," he said, thrusting the bags towards her. Sayuri took them somewhat clumsily, staggering slightly under the weight.

"Thanks," Ayano called back to the cashier as they left. "I might be back later to look at that tanto in the window. That's a pretty piece of work."

"You do that!" the cashier called back as the door swung shut.

"Now where do we go?" Sayuri asked, already vaguely dizzied by shopping for weapons.

"Clothes," Ayano said brightly.

"Hey, Ayano!"

"Izumo! Kotetsu!" Ayano said, spinning around and grinning at the two men behind her. Sayuri turned to face the two chakra signatures she'd met the day before.

"Hey, it's you!" Kotetsu said in surprise, looking Sayuri over. "You're… uh… the Lily-girl!"

"Sayuri," Izumo sighed, shaking his head. "It's only been a day..."

"I like Lily-girl better!" Kotetsu said defensively.

"Getting old, Kotetsu?" Ayano teased.

"You're the grandma here Ayano," Kotetsu replied casually.

"Ooh, you're lucky there're children present, or I'd pound you for that!" Ayano scowled.

"Come on," Izumo said, shaking his head and dragging his friend away. "We have to get to our post. Nice to see you Ayano, Sayuri!"

"You too!" Ayano called after them. She looked at Sayuri. "You know them?"

"They were at the gate when Satoru brought me in," Sayuri explained as they started walking again. Ayano grabbed her arm and tugged her through a door.

"This oughta be fun," Ayano said as she stepped into the store. "You need everything from the ground up, right?"

"Yes."

"Then we'll start with underwear and work our way out!"

Ayano amused herself for several minutes by passing Sayuri the laciest, raciest thongs she could possibly find before simply tossing a couple packs into the cart.

"Too young for a bra, but don't worry, you'll get there," Ayano said, patting her shoulder patronizingly. Sayuri frowned slightly. Ayano looked at her own chest in exasperation. "Look on the bright side, at least you don't have to tape 'em down to keep from getting black eyes when you run."

Sayuri wasn't really sure how to respond to that, so Ayano just laughed as she tugged her towards the half of the store that sold clothes for ninja. Some civilians shopped there purely because the clothes were longer-lasting, with stronger seams and tougher material. However, because they were for sneaking around, most of the clothes were in blander colors – black and dark brown predominating – and with few patterns beyond a simple color block.

"There's not really a good way to do this," Ayano sighed, looking around at the racks and racks of clothes. "Are you good to browse?"

"I can tell the style and feel of the clothes," Sayuri nodded. "If you could tell me the colors and make suggestions, perhaps?"

"Alright, kid," Ayano said, rubbing her hands together. "Into the fray we go."

They spent several minutes scanning the racks. Ayano again amused herself by handing Sayuri some revealing clothes to go over. Sayuri always blushed and handed them back with some sort of mumbled rejection. Ayano got bored with that and turned back to her task.

"You like kind of traditional stuff, it seems," Ayano mused. She handed Sayuri a few shirts to look at. She ran her fingers over them.

"What colors are they?"

"This one's red, this one's blue with purple edging, and the one next to it is gray with blue edging."

"I like the gray one," Sayuri said, happy she'd finally found something.

"Most shinobi just have one outfit they wear for everyday. You okay with that?"

"Yes," Sayuri nodded, and Ayano grabbed a few more of the same shirt.

They found a few shirts for going out with friends and a couple pairs of pajamas before venturing off to find pants. Sayuri was completely fine with the loose, dark pants Ayano handed her right off the bat, and a lighter pair for going out.

"You'll need some kind of a belt to attach your stuff to, and most people wear wrappings under their kunai holster to keep from chafing as bad," Ayano explained.

"Where are the wrappings?"

"On the shelf to your left. I'd grab several rolls," Ayano warned when Sayuri placed one inside. She tossed in a few more and Ayano nodded in satisfaction. "How about we keep up the traditional theme with something like this?" Ayano suggested, holding up an obi. "Light blue," she added as Sayuri took it to examine.

"I like it," Sayuri nodded.

"Think it's time to head for a fitting room and see how these fit?" Ayano asked, tilting her head in that direction. Sayuri nodded and stepped into one of the empty stalls. Ayano handed her all of the clothes while she waited outside with their bags of shopping. "Now come out when you're dressed so I can critique!" she called cheerfully.

Sayuri took a moment inside the stall to let out a deep breath. Ayano was nice, and Sayuri really liked her. She hoped she got to spend more time with the older woman. However, her energy was boundless while at the same time she was capable of seeming like she didn't care at all. It was a personality that was completely new to her. She'd found another new truth in her life. It was possible for her to have friends.

Gathering her thoughts up, Sayuri stripped and put on her pajamas, a pair of loose sweatpants and a loose, long-sleeved shirt. She stepped out and Ayano approved. She did the same for the short and tank top/t-shirt combo they'd gotten for warmer weather and again Ayano approved. Her casual clothes were also quickly approved.

"You're an easy shopper," Ayano commented as Sayuri changed into her ninja gear. She tugged on the pants and shirt and wrapped the belt tightly around her middle. Her hand hit something else and she quickly realized it was a pair of fingerless gloves with a metal plate on the back Ayano must have snuck into the pile. She smiled slightly, remembering her conversation with Satoru by the blackberry bush and realized he must have said something to her. She whispered a quiet thank you to him as she tugged them on and stepped out, flexing her hands at the new feeling.

"Your bones put you at kind of a disadvantage," Ayano mused. "You're gonna rip holes in everything you wear that way."

"That's unfortunate," Sayuri mused, touching the shoulders and arms of her shirt.

Other than that, Ayano mused, she looked pretty good. A little less colorful than most girls her age, but whatever. Her black pants were loose, the ankles tucked into her sandals. The gray shirt hung down to her knees with a slit up the sides to her hips. The front zipped up just above where she'd belted it, and the sleeves went all the way down her arms.

"Oh, brainstorm!" Ayano grinned, jumping up and tugging Ayano towards the dressing room. She pointed to the roll of wrapping. "You could wrap your torso and wear it a little more open in the front. Then if you needed to use your kekkei genkai, you could just shrug the top bit off."

"That could work," Sayuri mused.

"Try it!" Ayano encouraged, ducking back out. Sayuri shrugged off the top part of her shirt and picked up the wrapping. She quickly did her whole torso, before thinking again. That seemed a bit wasteful considering her shirt would be on most of the time, so she backtracked and just wrapped her chest, leaving her stomach bare. She felt a bit uncomfortable with that until she pulled her shirt back on and tugged up the zipper to the bottoms of the wrapping.

"Much better!" Ayano praised, applauding as Sayuri emerged. "I like it."

Sayuri turned this way and that, smiling at the way the fabric moved easily with her and didn't restrict her movement. She smiled as she ran her hands over the fabric. For one it was slightly stiff with disuse instead of thread-bare, ill-fitting, and holey. It was without a doubt the nicest thing she'd ever worn.

Sayuri paused as she felt eyes on her. "Are people looking at me?" she asked self-consciously. Did she look ridiculous?

Ayano glanced around. A few women hastily bowed their heads over the racks and busied themselves flipping through styles. "A little," she noted. She looked Sayuri over. "I think it may be the markings around your eyes," she guessed.

"... Could I cover them?" Sayuri asked self-consciously.

"I suppose," Ayano mused. "It wouldn't make much of a difference except to hide the marks."

"Can I get another like this one?" Sayuri asked, fingering the belt at her waist. "I can shorten it myself."

"If you can sew, I may hire you to do my mending," Ayano said wryly. "Yeah, sure, you can get what you want. Change back into your old clothes and I'll grab another."

They spent a few minutes getting some basic hygiene items – toothbrush, toothpaste, hairbrush, shampoo, conditioner, that sort of thing – and then headed back to Satoru's house.

"That was one of the most painless shopping trips I've ever been on," Ayano grinned as they walked. "Hey, we've got a bit, do you still want to grab some lunch?"

Sayuri opened her mouth to reply and then closed it abruptly. Strange sounds were reaching her ears from the building next to them. Whirring, humming, buzzing, the sound of water rushing. "What are we standing next to?"

"A hair salon," Ayano said, glancing up at the sign. She looked at Sayuri's hair. It reached below her rear. "You might want to consider a haircut. A lot of kunoichi keep their hair short, for convenience and so it doesn't get caught in things. You game?"

"Yes," Sayuri said immediately, recalling the annoying times when the Kaguyas caught her by her hair and threw her into things. It was infrequent enough that she'd never bothered to cut it, but frequent enough to be memorable.

Several minutes later she walked out, her head feeling a startling amount lighter. Her hair now reached to her chin in choppy pieces, bangs falling over her left eye.

"Well, no time for lunch," Ayano said, glancing around. She saw a man with a cart selling ice cream across the street. "Oh, but there's time for ice cream!"

Sayuri looked at her blankly. "What?"

Ayano gaped at her. "You don't know what ice cream is?" she demanded.

Sayuri flinched. "I'm… sorry?"

"I have to fix this. We need to get some frozen, creamy goodness in you, stat, kid," Ayano said, dragging her across the street. "Two vanilla cones please, my good man!" she asked, dramatically pulling out her wallet. "I've got this," she added to Sayuri. "I get to buy your first ice cream cone. I feel so special," she giggled.

"Thank you?" Sayuri said, a bit dizzied by Ayano's sudden excitement, not that she hadn't been energetic the whole trip. Some sort of cone was shoved into her hand. Sayuri leaned forwards and sniffed it cautiously. It smelled cold and sweet.

"You lick it," Ayano encouraged, biting into her own cone with a happy crunch. Sayuri licked it and her eyes widened in delight. It was cool and smooth, and the longer she held it on her tongue, the more it melted. She began licking eagerly.

"This is the best thing I've ever tasted," Sayuri breathed.

"Next time you'll have to try chocolate," Ayano grinned.

"What's chocolate?" Sayuri asked interestedly. Was it even better than this?

Ayano just stared at her. "You... don't know what chocolate is?"

Sayuri shook her head, focused entirely on her treat.

"You haven't lived," Ayano mourned. "We will have to go out again sometime, and I'll expose you to the wonders of chocolate."

"It's that great?"

"It fixes broken hearts, encourages love, and just all around makes you feel better."

"… Is it some kind of drug?"

"Yes," Ayano replied seriously. "The world's most addictive drug."


	5. Capable

**Let me explain the timeline thus far. Sayuri began feeding Kimimaro when she was eight and he was ten. Two years passed and the Kaguya clan was wiped out. When she was ten she met Satoru. Now I looked all over and I couldn't find an actual age for when Academy students start school, so I went with eight. We know Sakura and Ino met in the early days of the Academy, and they look around eight to me at that point. Academy students graduate around age twelve or thirteen, and I'm assuming they have more than two or three years of school. Five seemed about right to me. **

**This is kind of a bridge chapter. I'm not going to describe too much of Sayuri's Academy days or her week of training with Satoru. Why? Because you don't want to read about every sweaty pushup any more than I want to write it. Plus, I want to get into the meat of the story- when Sayuri gets a team and starts going on ninja missions.**

**Alright, enough of my blabbering. Story time!**

* * *

**Truth: She could to anything.**

Ayano returned Sayuri to Satoru safely. Satoru sent her off to put away her new things. He'd cleared a space for her in the bathroom and found a box for her to put her weapons in and another for her clothes. They fit smoothly under the coffee table by the couch. It occurred to him that he'd have to make some allowances if Sayuri was going to be there for any length of time.

"I like that kid," Ayano said as Sayuri busied herself in the bathroom putting on her new training clothes.

"I do to," Satoru said, glancing towards the door. He was pretty sure Sayuri would be able to hear them from there.

"You're getting soft, Minamoto," Ayano chuckled, punching Satoru's shoulder. He rubbed it with a wince.

"You're certainly not. That hurt."

"Ah, don't be a baby," Ayano scoffed. "You've got a pretty sweet deal though. Housekeeper and cook all for the price of playing teacher again, and soon you won't even be doing that."

"I'll keep teaching her even when she's in the Academy," Satoru corrected. "She's too behind for a week of intense training to fix. If she's lucky she'll walk in able to throw a kunai and shuriken decently and easily use her kekkei genkai."

"Have faith in her," Ayano rebuked. "She might just blow your mind. Maybe I'll drop by to hang out with her again," she said teasingly. "That kid's better company that you are."

"Hey!" Satoru protested dramatically, pressing a hand to his chest. "I'm wounded. Seriously though," he added, teasing tone vanishing. "Thanks for taking her out for me."

"Hey, I owe you a couple small favors," Ayano shrugged. "Just let me know when I can help. You know, you're gonna be dealing with a teenage girl here in a few years. Think you can handle it?"

Satoru winced. "I may hand her off to you."

Ayano chuckled. "Satoru Minamoto: badass shinobi, runs in fear at the thought of a teenage girl. You, sir, are a wimp."

"I, ma'am, am not a girl," he corrected. "I don't know about girl things."

Ayano chuckled. "You sure? There's a bet going around…"

Satoru swung at her teasingly and Ayano darted back.

"Later, Minamoto!" she chuckled as she walked off.

"Do I need any weapons?" Sayuri asked, poking her head out of the bathroom.

"Set up a standard equipment pouch and kunai holster," Satoru ordered, sliding easily into teacher mode.

"Yes sir," Sayuri responded. She struggled slightly to get everything in place, but she got it in the end, attaching her equipment pouch to her hip and her kunai holster to her taped thigh as Ayano had told her.

Satoru took her to a place out in the open. She felt grass against her toes and vaguely heard the wind in the trees nearby.

"Where are we?" she asked.

"An empty training field," he said, turning to face her. His face was serious. "Sayuri, I'm not going to lie. This is going to be harder for you than most people , because you're blind and because you haven't trained for this like other kids have. For a while you will be weaker than others-"

"I'm _not_ weak!" Sayuri snapped.

"I didn't say weak, I said weak_er_," Satoru corrected. "These kids have trained for a couple years now. You get that, right? They've been developing muscles and skills you haven't. You'll be weak compared to them, but you're already strong for your age.

"What I'm saying is I'm not going to go easy on you. This will be hard, and it will be painful. I'm not going to let you quit halfway through and waste my time. I need to know that this is what you want to do, or there's no reason for either of us to be here."

Sayuri thought for a moment. Until Satoru dropped into her life, she'd never considered becoming a ninja, in part because she didn't have access to the kind of training. She also was told she couldn't fight. It had never seemed possible to her until Satoru offered her the chance and told her he thought she could do it.

But now she wanted more than anything to fight. Not the thirst for violence the Kaguya were known for, but she wanted to fight nonetheless, to prove herself, to prove them wrong. She wanted to be able to show that even after being put down and stepped on her whole life, she could do something she never thought she'd be able to do. She wanted to prove to herself that she wasn't worthless, as she'd thought for so many years.

She remembered Kimimaro, curled in his cell, flinching at the sight of the light, carving a face in the wall so he had someone to talk to. She remembered hearing him talk about having someone watch over him, wondering if it was true that everyone had someone like that, protecting and guiding him. She couldn't be that for Kimimaro, but maybe she could be that for someone else.

"I do," Sayuri said confidently. Satoru nodded approvingly.

"Alright then. Let's get started."

Sayuri was on the ground, unable to move, by the end of the day. Satoru squatted next to her, calmly patting her shoulder.

"You did very well," he encouraged. She groaned in response.

"How do people… do this… every day?"

"You signed up for this," Satoru pointed out.

"I kn-now."

Everything hurt. Muscles she didn't even know she _had_ were suddenly making their presence very clear in the form of screaming, burning pain. She hadn't quite understood the severity of what she'd signed up for, but she wasn't turning back now. Somehow though, she couldn't picture Ayano having done all this. She just seemed a bit too… flighty? That wasn't the word… uncaring, that was it. Sayuri couldn't picture Ayano putting this much effort into anything.

"And Ayano… is a… jonin?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Well," Sayuri began, wary of insulting her, also still struggling to breathe. "She just… doesn't seem… all that…"

"Powerful?" Satoru finished, easily guessing where she was going. "Yeah, she doesn't, but don't ever piss her o- oh, er, make her mad," he corrected sheepishly.

"I've heard… worse," Sayuri assured him.

"Ah. Well, she's dangerous one because she uses lightning ninjutsu-"

"You can… do that?" Sayuri asked in awe. "Will I learn?"

"Not for a while kid, it takes way more chakra than you've got to use right now," Satoru chuckled, ruffling her newly-shortened hair. "It's not just that though. For a while, when we were younger, Ayano focused on taijutsu. Her kicks were – _are_ – legendary," Satoru said, rubbing his side with a winced. Sayuri guessed he'd felt those kicks personally before. "But then she found out she was good with lightning and developed a whole new fighting style."

"What do you mean?" Sayuri asked blankly. How could one create a style of fighting?

"What she does is uses her hands to focus her chakra while using her legs to direct it. Her kicks are powered with lightning and used to fling the lightning at a target or electrify something she kicks. She could literally kill you with both hands tied behind her back."

"Wow," Sayuri breathed. She was starting to be able to talk without panting. "That's incredible. It sounds so useful too! Like if you were tied up and captured, you could still fight just as well."

"Hey, play your cards right and maybe when you're out of the Academy she'll teach it to you," Satoru grinned crookedly. He privately rather doubted it. Several new genin, chunin, and even jonin had come to Ayano begging to learn how her style worked. Fighting with just your legs was nothing new, but the way Ayano used her legs to direct the element for than her hands and hand signs was unheard of. She'd never taught anyone though. He vividly recalled a time two Hyugas approached and tried to buy the knowledge from her. She'd sent them back to their clan scorched, hair on end, and smelling like ozone.

"How long have you known her?" Sayuri asked. Clearly they'd been friends a while. Satoru spoke about her confidently, like he was sure of what he knew of her character.

"Since we were fresh out of the Academy," Satoru recalled. "We were on a three-man squad together when we were genin. Before that we'd never spoken much. But we advanced at different rates, and she's always been stronger than me, so we got different missions, and sort of… drifted apart."

"I'm sorry."

"Nah, not a big deal. Happens to most genin teams."

"So women can be just as powerful as men?" Sayuri asked. This ran very much contradictory to what she'd learned from the Kaguya, but then she'd learned there was a lot the Kaguya were wrong about. Here she was, blind, on the verge of becoming a fighter. She'd learned there was more to life than the fight. There was shopping with a friend and learning from a teacher.

"Oh yeah," Satoru snorted. "A lot of people will tell you the women are more vicious then the men. They may have a bit of a biological disadvantage, but I can't think of one kunoichi I know who I'd willingly tick off." He glanced at the sky, judging the time. "Come on, let's get some food in you and then you can sleep."

* * *

Satoru hadn't lied. This was not easy. Sayuri panted. She sweated more than she ever had in her life. She struggled for breath. Her muscles burned and tore. She cut and bruised herself all over, and she didn't get proper time to heal. When they sparred, Satoru didn't pull his punches he hit her as hard as he would an enemy. The aches and pains just compounded day after day. Sayuri knew how to take a hit, but now she was learning how to take it and still keep coming.

But she reveled in every bit of it. She felt a rush of pride every time she was a second faster, a bit stronger. Every time she hit that little bit harder or reacted that little bit faster, was that much more accurate with her kunai or shuriken, she luxuriated in the feeling of accomplishment.

She was doing it. Against all odds, she was _doing it._ In that week, she found a new truth: she could do anything.

She thought she'd just be running and doing pushups to build up her strength and speed. She envisioned sparring practices, but there was so much more she hadn't even considered.

Sayuri began her days at the same early time, but now instead of cleaning, she did stretches to loosen her muscles and improve her flexibility. She fixed a quick breakfast and then Satoru took her to the training field. She ran laps and did pushups and sit ups until she dripped sweat, and then the real work began.

Satoru had her use her kekkei genkai over and over, doing the same thing time after time until it was instinctive. She learned to coat her body just under the skin with bone stronger that steel. Satoru would punch and kick at her from random directions. It was her job to block it with a bone from the right spot, and if that wasn't feasible, with her arms or legs.

Satoru coached her on how to grip and throw shuriken, kunai, and senbon correctly and how to throw a curve, where the weak points on the human body were, how to counter it if an opponent was wearing armor. Sayuri proved very adept with finding weak points on the body using her sensing, but she struggled with stationary targets.

Her sensing was another thing they trained. It was very basic when they started. She could usually only tell who it was by the feel and where they were. If they started walking, she could tell what direction they were going. If they did something obvious like thrust out a limb she could tell, like a little shock in her mind telling her which way the limb was going, but for more subtle things she was lost.

The training Satoru developed for that would probably have looked a little hilarious to an outsider. A grown man standing in the middle of an otherwise empty field making random, strange movements while a little girl told him what he was doing wasn't exactly normal.

Sayuri learned basic moves and hand signs quickly. She was very good at mimicking things once she'd observed them once or twice. She learned to throw a punch correctly, not to bend her wrist or put her thumb on the inside. She learned how to kick without hurting her toes or her ankle.

Satoru also taught her basic things like knots and traps. When night fell and they returned to the apartment, Sayuri still insisted on making dinner for them. Satoru watched her limp around the kitchen nightly, wincing at every movement, cooking for him. While they ate, he would quiz her on the handbook.

All in all, Satoru was proud of her progress. In only a weak she'd gone from knowing nothing to being able to do basic taijutsu moves, throw weapons with a decent amount of accuracy, and sense most movements.

* * *

"I'm scared," Sayuri admitted softly as Satoru walked her towards the Academy. Normally a student would be given directions and sent off, but Sayuri couldn't exactly read street signs and Satoru couldn't really say 'twenty-eight steps, then a right, forty steps and a left,' so he was left walking her.

"Everyone is their first day," Satoru soothed. "You're just starting a little late."

Sayuri heard the whispers as she walked into the building. Clusters of students muttered as she passed with Satoru. They speculated on who she was, why she was with Satoru, and what they were doing here.

"I wonder why she's holding onto him like that?"

"Big baby."

"What's she thinking, covering her eyes?"

"Idiot."

"You'll be in Iruka's class," Satoru instructed as he paused outside a door. Children's voices could be heard talking softly inside.

"Ah, Satoru, it's been a while," greeted a man's voice in a friendly way.

"Iruka," Satoru grinned at the teacher.

"I know you're not coming back to teach," Iruka said knowingly.

"I've got your new student," Satoru explained.

"Oh right! I heard you were catching her up on some things," Iruka recalled.

Satoru gently tugged his sleeve from Sayuri's fingers. "This is her."

"Hi," Iruki smiled. "I hope you'll enjoy your time in my class and learn a lot. You're lucky to have Satoru teaching you too."

"Thanks," Sayuri murmured.

"Can you introduce yourself to Iruka?" Satoru encouraged.

"Yes."

Satoru looked at her in amusement. "Well, will you?"

"Oh, right," Sayuri said, flustered. "My name is Sayuri Kaguya."

"You think you'll be able to find your way to the classroom on your own tomorrow?" Satoru asked, concern leaking into his voice as he tried to hide it.

"Yes," Sayuri replied. Nerves seemed to be making her incredibly monosyllabic.

This was what she had feared. She knew children could be cruel. She anticipated being mocked for being weak at first, but she kept telling herself it wouldn't be so bad. Sayuri promised herself that she'd be the hardest-working student Iruka had ever had. She'd be on par with these other students as soon as humanly possible.

"Alright then. Can you get home?" Satoru asked. She nodded. "Okay. Iruka, I'm turning her over to you."

"Okay then," Iruka nodded. "You can take the seat in the second row from the back, two chairs from the wall. That sound okay?"

"Fine," Sayuri agreed as Satoru put an encouraging hand on her shoulder. Iruka gave such good directions Sayuri wondered if he'd taught blind kids before.

"See you after school," Satoru said, walking off.

"Take your seat," Iruka said. "When class starts, I'm going to call you up to formally introduce you to the class, okay?"

It _wasn't_ particularly okay with her, but Sayuri just nodded, mouth too dry to speak. Sayuri stepped inside the classroom. Or at least she tried to. She ended up slamming into a wall.

"Ow!" she yelped, rubbing her nose. "Who put that there?"

"Uh…" Iruka said blankly, turning her slightly and giving her a light shove in the proper direction.

Sayuri slid into her assigned seat as instructed, flushing. She sat there, back ramrod straight, hands knotted in her lap, just listening to everyone talking around her. There were a few people whispering about her, but most people didn't seem to notice her.

"Alright you all, settle down!" Iruka called. There was a great scraping of chairs as people settled into their seats. Sayuri stiffened, knowing what was coming next. "As I expect you've noticed, we have a new student. Sayuri, would you come down here?"

Sayuri used the presence of other people to guide her and keep her from falling down or running into desks as she walked to the front of the tiered classroom. She stopped next to Iruka and turned to face the class, hands still knotted in front of her. She was nervously popping her joints.

"Tell us your name, where you're from, and something you like to do," Iruka encouraged.

"Sayuri Kaguya. I'm from somewhere near the Village Hidden in the Mist. I don't know precisely where," she admitted. "Something I like to do…? Um, I like to clean, and I like to carve wood."

"That's very interesting," Iruka nodded. "Any questions for Sayuri?"

"Yeah, why've you got your eyes covered? You're not gonnr be able to see like that, you know. Do you have some kind of scar or something?" blurted out a voice to her right.

"Naruto," Iruka groaned from next to her. "You don't just ask questions like that…"

"I mean we're all curious sensei," called a girl's voice from the back. "Everyone knows blocking off one of your senses is just dumb!"

"It doesn't make any difference whether I cover my eyes or not," Sayuri said softly. "I'm blind, so I can't see anyway."

The muttering around the class increased to fever pitch at that.

"Well I think it's great she'd trying to become a ninja," Iruka said over them. "Now I hope you'll all welcome her. You can return to your seat now," he added softly to her. Sayuri nodded and moved back towards her seat.

Sayuri enjoyed the Academy, but there were certain things she wasn't prepared for. She was supposed to be learning to reading, math, and science.

Science was rough, as she had none of the building blocks to keep up with the lessons. Satoru took her to the library to find books on the subject to help her catch up, which he read to her at night before she went to sleep. Reading was her biggest problem. She couldn't see the letter to read or write them. This exempted her from part of the work, but not the comprehension or vocabulary bits. Math wasn't so bad. She knew how to count, and once she knew the different ways the numbers were supposed to work together based on what symbol was used, she could pretty much figure it out if someone read her the problem.

Her lack of sight wasn't as big of a problem as she thought it would be. In fact, it led to finding her first friend in the Academy. Iruka assigned the shy girl who sat next to her, Miyako Hasekura, to read the assignments and worksheets to her. From there, Miyako also helped her reason her way through the subjects in the first few, roughest days.

At first, both girls were shy around each other, being naturally wary of new people. Miyako and Sayuri were both fairly quiet people to begin with, and they spent class quietly mumbling to each other about the assignment. It changed when Sayuri walked up to Miyako during lunch and asked for help with a math concept she didn't understand. From there the conversation evolved and they ended up talking about their home lives and their classmates.

From then on, they were friends and always ate lunch together. Miyako even came over for dinner with Satoru and Sayuri every now and then. They studied together and once Ayano even took them out for ramen when she dropped in and found the two buried in dense science textbooks. 'Saving them from becoming little nerds,' she'd cried before dragging both girls out of the house.

That wasn't to say Sayuri had a lot of free time. Satoru still worked her hard even when she came home from the Academy after a long day of rough training. She was still rolling into bed sore and bruised and waking up the next morning hating her muscles for still hurting. She frequently was asked by people at the Academy why she was always bruised, but she just shook her head and didn't respond.

Sayuri loved it though. She took the pain as a consequence of the advancement. She reveled every time she was able to do one more push up or sit up than the day before, or run that extra mile. The day she did her first jutsu correctly she had actually squealed in delight and hugged a startled Satoru. Considering she was transformed into Ayano at the time it was a bit awkward, what with Sayuri not being used to the extra height, and she ended up sort-of tackling him.

* * *

The last straw came in the form of a simple mutter of, "Stupid."

Sayuri's palms slammed down on the desktop and she stood up sharply.

"Sayuri?" Iruka asked in shock.

"I'm _sorry_ I haven't spent years learning about math and science or how to read words I'll never be able to see on a page. You see, my education up until a few years ago was a bit _different_. My clan only wanted to fight, and I couldn't do that, and I'm a girl besides. So guess what? I became their personal slave. I cleaned up them and mended their clothes and fed them and they repaid me by telling me how worthless I was and beating me up. So _no_, I don't know how to read or write or do much math, but I'd like to see _any_ of you provide for yourselves as well as I can."

Sayuri unzipped her shirt and shrugged it off. She rolled her shoulder, popping it loudly. A spur of bone shot out of her shoulders and palms and Sayuri held up her hands so everyone could see. There were several cries of disgust and someone screamed, "Freak!"

"Maybe I am," Sayuri agreed. "But I am_ not. Stupid._ The next person that says I am, I will skewer with my radius, I don't care."

That said, she turned back to a wide-eyed Miyako. "Now, explain long division to me again before I hit something," she ordered.

Miyako immediately began doing so, struggling to hold back a smile. Iruka turned everyone back to their work, also smothering a small grin as he did so.

* * *

The day of the graduation exams, Sayuri practically vibrated with nervous energy. She was holding Miyako's hand under the desk, and she was shaking as well, more out of fear than nerves.

"Miyako Arita!" Iruka called. At her side, Miyako winced.

"You'll be great," Sayuri assured her as she stood.

"Thanks," Miyako whispered back as she left for the testing room.

Sayuri had every confidence in Miyako. Her friend may be more of a genjutsu-type, and she may be shy and nervous, but she was good, and she had a strong kekkei genkai, despite the conflicts it caused in her family. She studied hard and maintained good grades. She was constantly jockeying with Sasuke, Sakura, and, surprisingly, Ino for the best grades.

Miyako didn't really look at first glance like she could handle the life of a shinobi at first glance. She was a petite, red-haired girl. She always wore plain, loose, black clothes and the only ornamentation was her family's symbol just above her wrist on the sleeves, a red dragon. Her black eyes were usually fixed on the ground, and she rarely looked people in the eye when she spoke to them. She was a lot like Hinata in her shyness.

She didn't see Miyako. Once you took the test you were allowed to go. Most people had family waiting outside to congratulate or sympathize with them depending on how they did. Miyako would be with her parents, and they would undoubtedly be proud. There had been some doubts she would be able to do it, which was a problem, considering she was the heir to her clan.

"Sayuri Kaguya!"


	6. Kindness

**Truth: Everyone needs a kind word sometimes.**

"_Sayuri Kaguya!"_

Sayuri took a deep breath and left the classroom, walking down the hall to the testing room. She opened the door and poked her head in cautiously. The room was empty expect for Iruka and Mizuki sitting at a table, neatly-folded hitai-ate on the table in front of them, waiting to be given to those who passed.

"Sayuri, are you ready?" Iruka asked as she followed the wall to the back of the room. "Make as many clones as you can, please."

"Yes sir," Sayuri responded, slipping back into the respectful, demure addresses she'd learned as a child. She had a habit of doing that when she was nervous or speaking to someone she respected.

Sayuri took a deep breath and began gathering up her chakra. She formed her hands into the correct hand signs and said, "Clone Jutsu!"

Four clones appeared around her, standing calmly and waiting for any direction.

"Well done!" Iruka congratulated.

"Iruka, they don't look much like her," Mizuki said, leaning over skeptically. The faces were slightly different, the marks placement off.

"_She_ doesn't know what she looks like," Iruka hissed back.

"Oh, she's the blind one?" Mizuki asked innocently. Iruka gave him a dark look.

"Be polite."

"Have I passed?" Sayuri asked softly, not letting on that she heard their quiet conversation.

"Yes," Iruka said. "You can come forwards and take your hitai-ate."

Sayuri stepped forwards, guiding herself with Iruka's position and a guess at how wide the table was. He stretched out his hand and she met it, feeling the weight of the metal plate and the smooth fabric in her hand.

"Thank you, sir," she said, bowing.

"You're now a shinobi, a genin," Iruka announced. "You may leave and find your family."

Sayuri nodded and left the room. She knew the halls of the Academy by heart now, after training here for three years. Long gone were the days when she'd have to stop and figure out where she was and where that was in relation to where she was trying to go.

She stepped out into the sun and was immediately accosted by two excited voices.

"Did you pass?" Ayano asked eagerly. "Did you? Huh? Did you? _Did you?_"

"You know she did!" Satoru said proudly.

Wordlessly, Sayuri held up her new hitai-ate and gave her widest grin.

"I knew it!" Satoru crowed. He picked Sayuri up and swung her around. "I knew it! What do you want to eat tonight, huh? My treat! We'll celebrate!"

"Ice cream?" Sayuri asked hopefully, glancing back at Ayano, who chuckled.

"You got it, kid."

"Sayuri!"

Miyako slipped through the crowd and moved up to her, eyes big and hopeful.

"Did you-"

"I did!" Sayuri cut her off. The two girls laughed and hugged each other happily.

"We're shinobi now!" Miyako said, looking vaguely dizzied by the thought. "We'll be going on missions and helping people and protecting the village and… and my father will be pressuring me to help him… and… and… oh, I think I need to sit down," she said faintly.

"Breathe," Sayuri encouraged. Miyako gulped in air. "Don't panic. You'll be great."

Miyako gave her a grateful grin. "Who do you think will be on our squads?" she asked thoughtfully.

Sayuri turned to Ayano. "Ayano, you're taking on a team this year. Do you know where we are?"

"That would be telling," Ayano said, grinning mischievously.

"A hint, _please!"_ Miyako begged.

"You'll both be pretty happy with your teams," Ayano said mysteriously.

"I'm glad of that, I was worried I-" Sayuri cut herself off abruptly and turned her head. "Is that Naruto on the swing?"

Miyako glanced around the crowd and saw that Naruto was indeed sitting on the swing, watching the triumphant children longingly. "Yeah. I heard he's the only one who didn't pass," she said softly.

"We should talk to him," Sayuri said suddenly. Miyako looked at her.

"What, no! We don't know him that well, and he's sad, and it would be uncomfortable, and…"

"And he's sad, so we should try and help," Sayuri said. She grabbed Miyako's wrist. "Come on."

Sayuri dragged Miyako over to Naruto. She liked him, in all honesty. His antics always made her smile and while he wasn't the best shinobi, he made up for lack of innate talent with a truly startling determination. However, people mostly avoided him, for reasons she didn't understand. The truth was, everyone needs a kind word sometimes.

"Hey Naruto," Sayuri greeted calmly.

Naruto looked up at the two girls in surprise. They never really spoke much in class, barring Sayuri's memorable outburst where she threatened to skewer anyone who called her stupid. Miyako looked uncomfortable, but Sayuri just looked sympathetic, or as sympathetic as she was able with her eyes hidden behind a scarf.

"Hey," he replied, trying to sound happy. He failed dismally. "Some test, huh?"

"You'll get it next year," Sayuri encouraged. "You just need practice, a little more, and you could be a genin."

"Yeah, you'll be great," Miyako said faintly. She wasn't good around people she didn't know well.

He smiled at them. "Thanks guys."

"Ladies, can I talk to Naruto alone for a moment?"

Both girls turned and nodded to Mizuki, surprised by his sudden appearance, before walking back to the crowd.

"That was nice of you guys," Ayano praised. "Miyako, your dad was looking for you a second ago."

Miyako nodded. "I should go. See you at orientation tomorrow?" she asked Sayuri quickly.

"Of course," Sayuri nodded. "We can walk together. Your house is on my way."

"Great," Miyako smiled. "See you tomorrow!"

"Bye!"

They hugged quickly and Miyako scurried off to find her mother, who was at once promising to make her favorite dishes and scolding her for running off into the crowd.

"So, are you going to do anything interesting with your forehead protector?" Satoru asked, tapping his own wrapped around his right thigh just above his kunai holster.

Sayuri nodded and pulled off the belt over her eyes, tucking it into her shirt as they walked. She raised her hitai-ate and used it to cover her eyes instead.

"Original," Ayano announced.

"No one else would be crazy enough to cover their eyes," Sayuri said, fingering her hair.

"Have you finished those gifts you were going to make for your new teammates?" Satoru asked.

"What gifts?" Ayano asked blankly.

"Tell her," Satoru encouraged.

"You remember those hair pins I gave you last year?" Sayuri asked.

"How could I forget? Those things are gorgeous," Ayano grinned. For her birthday the year before, Satoru had taken Ayano out for dinner and Sayuri had given her a pair of lacquered wooden hair pins she'd carved herself with detailed roses at the top.

"I'm doing the same thing, only I'm using bone," Sayuri explained. "It's difficult, because the ends are pointed so they can be thrown like senbon, but to get them hard enough to do any damage makes them more difficult to carve."

"I see," Ayano nodded. "That's a pretty neat idea. At least you don't have to go out and buy new materials if you mess up," she joked.

"No, I don't," Sayuri said with a small smile.

Ice cream had kind of become a habit for Sayuri and Ayano. Every time they went out, they made sure to stop and get a cone. For a while, Sayuri always got something different, eagerly sampling all the different flavors. Ayano had enjoyed watching her acting all giddy over treats like a kid should. Satoru joined them whenever he could.

"One vanilla, one chocolate, and one mint chocolate chip," Ayano ordered.

"It's like you know us," Satoru teased.

"Yeah, I know you, Mr. Vanilla," she sighed, shaking her head as she passed him his cone. "I don't know where I went wrong with you. Such a boring flavor…"

"Oh, and chocolate isn't?" Satoru challenged.

"Chocolate trumps everything," Ayano said happily, licking her ice cream. Sayuri took hers and started eating.

"Hey, Lily-girl!"

Sayuri sighed and turned to see Izumo and Kotetsu waving from across the street. She saw them every now and then, not often enough to really consider them friends, but they got along decently.

"Kotetsu, I've asked you not to call me that," Sayuri pointed out.

"Repeatedly," Izumo agreed.

"Hey, whose side are you on?" Kotetsu groaned.

"You shouldn't call her names she doesn't like," Satoru scolded, pulling out his stern voice.

"I'm getting tag-teamed!" he complained. "Here we are, thinking we'd be nice and come over here and congratulate your graduation!"

"Thank you, guys," Sayuri said, smiling slightly.

"No problem," Izumo said, ruffling her hair. "Maybe one day we'll go out on a mission together."

"That'll be a while," Satoru said hastily.

"Whoa, Satoru's going into protective dad mode. Time to make our escape before he starts telling us to settle down and start a family," Kotetsu chuckled.

"Nice to see you," Izumo said.

"You too," Ayano and Satoru nodded as the two wandered off into a restaurant down the street.

Satoru shook his head. "I swear, sometimes I think Kotetsu likes Sayuri way more than he should," he said protectively.

"That would make him a pedophile," Sayuri said calmly, licking her ice cream.

Satoru choked on his ice cream. "Where'd you hear that word?"

"She's not a little kid anymore, Satoru," Ayano snorted.

"What was it like when you were genin?" she asked, changing the subject.

"Well, in the beginning you get pretty easy missions," Satoru recalled. "Finding lost pets, light cleaning, easy stuff. That gets you working together and helps you get in sync with the other people on your team."

"I never went in for that," Ayano recalled. "I always thought it was dumb. Learn by doing. It doesn't take any kind of ability to weed a garden or split some logs. Training all the way."

"Didn't you use to tie up your students?" Satoru recalled.

"Maybe a little," she said innocently. "Hey, Kakashi restrains his too."

"Kakashi's just crazy enough to get away with it."

"And I'm not? You wound me, Satoru!"

"Please, you're too tough for that."

"Charmer," Ayano grinned.

Sayuri buried her smile in her ice cream cone. Satoru and Ayano were a little bit… _blatantly obvious._ They both liked each other a lot, more than as good friends or old teammates. Sayuri had noticed it in the years she'd been staying with Satoru. Whenever Ayano was around he seemed to perk up. She kept hoping he'd screw up his courage and ask her out one day. Privately, she thought they were adorable.

They finished their ice cream and Sayuri spent the rest of the day at home with Satoru. Ice cream wasn't a real meal, so she fixed them something simple when the time came for dinner. Satoru tried to protest and said that it was her special day, so she shouldn't have to cook. Sayuri told him she'd been cooking for years, so it wasn't a big deal to her. She enjoyed it.

They were in a different apartment now. It became clear a year after Sayuri began staying with Satoru that he didn't want her to go and she didn't really want to leave. He'd become like an older brother to her, and she was like his little sister. They'd moved into a slightly larger apartment. Really the only difference was that this new one had one more bedroom, so now Sayuri was no longer living on the couch.

Sayuri was up a bit later than usual. Satoru had already turned in for the night so she sat up on her bed and carved, putting the final touches on the last pair of hair pins she was making. Sayuri ran her fingers over the carvings and smiled at the texture. She couldn't find a flaw anywhere.

She set the hair pins aside and turned to her equipment pouch, double-checking to make sure that she had everything she might need for whatever her new teacher might decide to throw at her tomorrow, tucking the hair pins in along the bottom. She set out her clothes for the next day, hitai-ate on top, and laid down to sleep.

* * *

The next morning Sayuri was up, dressed, and out of the house before Satoru even got up. He wasn't surprised to see breakfast on the table though, the house a little cleaner than it had been last night, and Sayuri's bed neatly made. Some things never changed.

Sayuri walked to Miyako's with a spring in her step. She stood outside of the house and waited, leaning against the fence. Miyako burst out the door, tightening her forehead protector as she went. She was wearing it over her forehead in the standard style.

"Are you ready?" Miyako asked breathlessly. "Our first day… our teams… our teachers… It's so exciting!"

"Breathe," Sayuri said calmly as they started walking towards the Academy. They had to report there for orientation.

"I'm calm," Miyako disagreed after a few deep breaths. Sayuri ran a hand over her cheek.

"You're twitching," she accused.

"Well, yes, because… I mean, the life of a shinobi is violent!" Miyako burst out, stopping. Sayuri paused and looked back at her in surprise. "In the Academy it's fine, it seems so far away, and you don't really realize that in a year you might be killing people! But it's scary, and I don't know if I can… if I can…"

"Miyako!" Sayuri said sharply, grabbing her shoulders. "You can. You've trained for this."

"But I'm… weak," Miyako mumbled. "I don't like hurting people. It's why I hate my kekkei genkai."

"If you did you'd be sadist, so that's not really a bad thing. Forget what you can do with your kekkei genkai. Not wanting to hurt people doesn't make you weak. It makes you strong if you have power and don't abuse it. Understand?"

Miyako nodded weakly and gave a tiny smile. "I'm just nervous. I barely got any sleep last night. I was having a mental breakdown."

Sayuri sighed. This was Miyako's main problem. She was a worrier. She worried about everything, from grades and people to the economy and the state of her soul, and she had a bad habit of working herself into worried frenzies on different topics. She'd end up near hyperventilation if you let her get going. Sayuri had learned to pull her back before she got too far over the years.

"You'll be fine," Sayuri said confidently. "You will be a great shinobi."

"Thanks," Miyako said, slumping slightly in relief. "I needed that."

"You're welcome. Now let's get to orientation."

They started walking again.

"Ow!" Sayuri yelped as she smacked into the door frame. "Who put that there?"

"The architect?" Miyako suggested, tugging her to the side a bit so she was lined up with the door properly.

Several people were already in the room when the pair arrived, including Sasuke, who had a group of girls vying for the coveted seat next to him.

"What do people see in him?" Sayuri sighed, still rubbing her face as she sat down. "He's so cold and closed off. What's desirable about that? It'd take an act of god to get to know him well enough to have a relationship."

"I think it's mostly his looks," Miyako shrugged.

"We are, thankfully, immune." Sayuri shuddered. "I don't think I could ever lose it like that over a guy and make a fool of myself." Miyako said nothing and Sayuri glanced at her suspiciously. "We _are _immune, aren't we?"

"He's attractive," Miyako allowed. "But he scares me. He always looks like he's trying to decide whether it's worth killing you. And… his hair looks like a chicken's butt," she added, giggling slightly. Sayuri shook her head in amusement. Even that tiny insult would have Miyako tittering and blushing. She really didn't have it in her to insult someone.

"_What_ was that?"

"Did you just _insult_ Sasuke?"

"He's _beautiful!_"

"_Watch it_ Hasekura!"

"Oh, you're gonna _pay_ for that!"

Miyako was a bit louder than she meant to be, just loud enough to attract the attention of Sasuke's fan club. They suddenly appeared beside Sayuri and Miyako's table. Sasuke himself turned around, surprised by the sudden reprieve. Miyako whimpered and pressed closer to Sayuri as the fan club began angrily enumerating the many wonderful qualities of Sasuke Uchiha and how dare she insult him and she was a terrible person and who does she think she was she was probably just jealous-

"Help," Miyako whimpered.

Sayuri's help came in the form of a bone sliding out of her palm, the tip pointed and gleaming wickedly. She tossed it up and down casually.

"Leave," Sayuri ordered, turning to face the herd. "You're worrying Miyako."

"She insulted Sasuke!"

"Yes, yes, and naturally she deserves to be lynched for that," Sayuri sighed impatiently. "We get it."

The fangirls wandered off, grumbling under their breath.

"Thinks she's so cool."

"Bitch."

"Creepy bone girl."

"Thank you," Miyako said, head falling forwards into the desk as she fell forwards in relief. The metal plate made a loud sound against the wood. "They were so scary… My life flashed before my eyes."

"Funnily enough, I didn't see anything."

"Haha," Miyako sighed. "You shouldn't make jokes like that," she warned. "People will think it's okay for them to make jokes, and they'll be meaner."

"If they can think up a better insult than I've already heard, I will personally congratulate them," Sayuri scoffed.

"Alright everybody, settle down," Iruka said, stepping into the room. "I will be placing you into squads of three people. The teams are as follows…"

Sayuri tuned most of this out, not interested. She heard a few groans or cheers around the room as people were paired up with friends or people they disliked.

"Team 9: Sayuri Kaguya-"

Sayuri perked up in her chair. This was it.

"-Kiyomi Arita-"

Sayuri's eyes narrowed slightly behind her mask. Kiyomi Arita. She knew that name. Kiyomi was the girl who had called her stupid and a freak during her infamous meltdown years ago. And now she was now the same team as her? This didn't bode well…

"-and Miyako Hasekura!"

"We're together!" Miyako said in delight. "This must be what Ayano was talking about!"

"I'm glad," Sayuri said, sighing in relief. She wasn't sure if she and Kiyomi would have gotten along. Who knew, Kiyomi might not be that bad? They didn't speak outside of group projects they were assigned together. She was willing to give her the benefit of the doubt. Besides, even if they didn't get along, she had Miyako.

"Those are all of the squads," Iruka finished up.

"Why does a great ninja like me have to be with a slug like Sasuke?" Naruto demanded, standing up and pointing over a glaring Sakura's head to Sasuke.

"Sasuke had the best scores of the graduates. Naruto, you had the worst scores," Iruka said pointedly. "This way, there's a balance of abilities on the team."

"Just don't get in my way, loser," Sasuke murmured.

"_What did you say?"_

"Hard of hearing?"

"Knock it off Naruto, and sit down!" Sakura said hotly.

"You'll meet your new jonin teachers after lunch," Iruka said, clearing his throat to get everyone's attention. "Until then, class dismissed."

"Should we eat with Kiyomi?" Miyako suggested. "We should get to know each other, right?"

Sayuri nodded, following Miyako over to the other side of the classroom where Kiyomi sat.

"You guys wanna eat lunch together?" she guessed when they walked up. She grinned crookedly. "Guess I can do that." She picked up her lunch and headed towards the door, gesturing with a hand.

"She's… confident," Miyako murmured as she and Sayuri followed the other girl.

Kiyomi Arita was widely acknowledged as one of the prettiest girls in their class, after Ino and Sakura. She had white hair that fell in feathered layers around her face and big blue eyes. These were brought out by the blue tank top she wore over her mesh shirt. She wore knee-length black pants tightened to her skin at the bottom with white ribbon.

The problem with Kiyomi was that she had no social filter and was very bad at choosing tactful ways of phrasing things. Whatever was in her mind came out and it was sometimes a less than friendly comment. She frequently insulted people inadvertently while trying to state a fact about them or critique their work.

This stood in sharp contrast to Miyako, who was painfully shy when she was around new people. She despised confrontation and hurting people, which made her an odd choice for a shinobi. However, her family had been shinobi for years, so she was as well. The Hasekura's symbol, a red dragon, was coiled around the upper arm of her black shirt. They were a very old Konoha clan and commanded a large amount of respect despite their small numbers.

"Here works, right?" Kiyomi asked, settling in the shade of one of the trees outside. "I like eating here."

"Sure," Miyako said, sitting down with her lunch. Sayuri sat next to her silently.

"So, should we get to know each other?" Kiyomi asked.

"I suppose so," Miyako said uncertainly, looking to Sayuri for any better ideas.

"Cool! I'll start!" Kiyomi cleared her throat. "So, my family are potters, and I hate it, so that's why I wanted to be a ninja. My favorite color is blue and my favorite food is rice balls, any kind. My specialty is taijutsu, and I sing in my spare time. People say I'm pretty good. Who's next? How about you, Miyako?"

Miyako went bright red at being put on the spot. "Oh, well, uh, I'm…. well…"

"I'll go," Sayuri said, cutting her off and giving her a chance to collect her thoughts. Miyako gave her a grateful look. "My specialty is taijutsu as well, although I usually use my bone knives. My favorite color is the color of my eyes." That bit always got her strange looks, but it was only because Kimimaro had once remarked that their eyes were the same color, and she enjoyed that small connection to her. "I love ice cream. In my spare time, I clean, carve, and cook."

"Uh, well my specialty is genjutsu," Miyako said, her words considerably stronger now that she'd gotten herself together. "My favorite color is, uh, red, and I really like umeboshi. I'm pretty good at genjutsu and in my spare time I like to… I don't really have hobbies," she admitted. "I mostly just read."

"That's boring," Kiyomi huffed. "Seriously, you don't do anything _fun?"_

"I hang out with Sayuri sometimes?" Miyako suggested. Kiyomi opened her mouth to say something and Sayuri cut her off, wary of where this might be going.

"I have something for you," she said.

"Oh, wow, seriously?" Kiyomi asked, turning to face her. "Sweet!"

"Here." Sayuri reached back into her equipment pouch and pulled out the hair pins, passing one pair to Miyako and giving the other to Kiyomi.

"They're like yours," Miyako said delightedly, pointing to the hair pins holding Sayuri's hair into a messy bun.

"What are these made of?" Kiyomi asked blankly.

"Bone," Sayuri answered calmly. She missed the grossed out face Kiyomi made but Miyako saw it. She knew Sayuri's kekkei genkai wasn't exactly the nicest of abilities to have. It turned a lot of people's stomachs. But there was no reason to make a face like that. No matter what they were made of, the hair pins were beautifully carved with long, trailing vines of flowers. They were very elegant, but not too dressy, just a classy touch to something every day. Miyako was happy to receive them and quickly pulled her hair up and put them in.

"Thanks!" she said happily.

"Thanks," Kiyomi repeated, sliding the hair pins into her equipment pouch and trying to subtly wipe her hands on her pants.

"Who do you think our teacher will be?" Miyako wondered.

"I don't even know who the options are," Kiyomi shrugged. "Who cares? It is what it is."

"Kakashi, Asuma, Kurenai, and Ayano are all taking on teams this time around," Sayuri recalled. "Ayano and Satoru were talking about it the other night."

"Whoa, you know Ayano Soma?" Kiyomi asked, sitting up sharply. "She's like my idol! That lightning technique she does is _so_ awesome! I'd _kill_ to learn from her!"

"She was on a genin team with my guardian, Satoru," Sayuri explained.

"Never heard of him," Kiyomi said, waving that off. "So, what's Ayano like? Is she awesome?"

"She's… energetic," Sayuri said slowly. "She likes teasing people, and she's almost impossible to annoy."

"Sounds like we'd get along," Kiyomi chuckled, leaning back casually against the tree.

"Perhaps," Sayuri agreed, though she wasn't sure.

"Lunch is almost over. Should we go back to the classroom and find our teacher?" Miyako suggested.

"Yeah, let's go!" Kiyomi said energetically, jumping up and pulling Miyako up. Sayuri climbed to her feet and they made their way back inside to the classroom. Several people were already back, a few jonin gathered at the front of the room talking. Ayano was there, smirking at Asuma and holding his carton of cigarettes teasingly out of reach.

When all of the students were back, the jonin began stepping up and claiming their teams in order. Kurenai took off with Team 8 and then Sayuri and her team perked up, knowing they were next. Or, at least, hoping. Naruto's team number 7, hadn't been called, as their instructor wasn't there yet.

Ayano stepped up, beaming. Her eyes locked on Sayuri and Sayuri smiled back.

"I'm looking for Team 9. Where are you guys at?"

"Ayano," Sayuri sighed, shaking her head as she stood with her team and trooped down. "Why couldn't you have just told me this the other night?"

"This is so cool!" Kiyomi whisper-squealed, squeezing Miyako's hand. Miyako grinned weakly.

"Yeah... Cool..."

Miyako was worried. Ayano was one of the most well-known Leaf kunoichi alive. A lot would be expected from her students. They would be expected to grow up and be just as good. Miyako felt herself to be an average kunoichi. She wasn't sure she could ever live up to that expectation. Still, in a way this was better than getting someone else. Miyako already knew Ayano fairly well through Sayuri, and Ayano knew she wasn't an amazing shinobi, so maybe she wouldn't expect too much?

"Alright ladies," Ayano said, planting her hands on her hips and grinning at them. "Let's go!"

She turned on her heel and started out the door, the three kunoichi on her trail. She led them to the rood of the Academy and reclined against the railing.

"Alright," she said, looking at the girls. "Rules say we've got to get acquainted before we go rushing off doing things. So, say your name, something you like, something you dislike, and a hobby. And if anyone asks, yes, I totally stole this method from Kakashi. I'll start." She cleared her throat and recited, "My name is Ayano Soma. I like sparring and I dislike overconfident opponents. As for a hobby…" she shrugged. "What I do on my off time's my business, kiddies." She snickered. "Who's next?"

"I'm Kiyomi Arita!" Kiyomi jumped in immediately. "I like sparring too, my hobby is singing and I really hate pottery," she said viciously.

"What'd the pots do to tick you off?" Ayano scoffed. "Alright Miyako, you're up."

"You already know me though," Miyako pointed out. Ayano shrugged.

"Rules are rules. Hokage wants us to take at least a couple minutes and bond or some other touchy-feely thing. I figured this was better than trust falls or something equally lame."

"My name is Sayuri Kaguya. I like ice cream, I dislike it when people move things, and my hobby is carving, which you already know," Sayuri said, giving Ayano a stern look that lost some of its potency seeing as her eyes were covered.

Ayano laughed. "I can _feel_ that look Sayuri. Don't make me sic Satoru on you," she teased.

Kiyomi gave Sayuri a jealous look. "You are so lucky to get to hang out with her," she said enviously.

Sayuri sighed, recalling Ayano's boundless energy. Yes, she adored Ayano, but there were times when she was a bit much even for Sayuri's patience. "Sometimes I wonder," she said ruefully.

"I'm Miyako Hasekura," Miyako said, rushing through her words. "I like books and I dislike being put on the spot and my hobby is reading." She let out a sigh of relief.

"Well, wasn't that enlightening?" Ayano said sarcastically. She rolled her eyes. "Alrighty, who wants to go on a mission?"

"Already?" Miyako screeched in shock.

"Alright!" Kiyomi cheered.

"Breathe Miyako," Ayano chuckled. "I'm not throwing you headfirst to the missing-nin. We're weeding a garden."


	7. Opposites

**As for the song… eh, it came on when I hit that point so I went with it. The song is Mr. Saxobeat by Alexandra Stan. It's one of those mindless dance songs, but I kinda like it.**

* * *

**Truth: ****Sometimes opposites _do_ attract.**

"What kind of mission is this?" Kiyomi complained. "Weeding a garden? Seriously? We're shinobi, not landscapers!"

"Everybody starts out on the bottom," Sayuri said with a shrug. She reached up and wiped the sweat from her forehead. It wasn't a particularly arduous job, but the sun was blazing overhead and making it hotter. "We have to walk before we can run."

"You sound like a fortune cookie," Kiyomi grumbled. Miyako let out a small giggle and Sayuri smiled slightly.

"I suppose I did a bit."

Kiyomi sent a dirty look to the woman whose garden they were tending to. She sat in the shade of the porch, drinking cold lemonade and chatting with Ayano. "Why can't she weed her own garden?" Kiyomi grunted under her breath as she viciously tugged out a weed.

"I think she has back troubles," Miyako guessed. "Look at the way she's holding herself."

"Oh yes, I see it," Sayuri said absently. Miyako gave her a stern look.

"Sayuri…" she sighed. "I mean that her back is very straight even when she leans forwards or reaches for something. I think she's wearing a back brace. I bet it's hard for her to bend over for very long."

"I can't get this one!" Kiyomi cried as she sat back on her heels, glaring at the weed. Sayuri's questing hand reached over. She touched a leaf and followed it to where the plant met the ground, wrapped both of her hands around it, and tugged. For a moment it looked like the plant would win, but then it suddenly gave way and Sayuri went flying back in a spray of dirt. She lay on the grass, blinking in surprise.

"Are you alright dear?" called the woman they were working for worriedly.

"Fine, ma'am!" Sayuri called back, pulling herself up. Kiyomi was laughing out loud while Miyako chuckled quietly, hiding her smile behind a hand.

"Your face!" Kiyomi laughed. "When you started falling! Ah, that was funny," she said, shaking her head as she got back to work.

"You've got a little…" Miyako began picking clods of dirt out of Sayuri's hair as she brushed her clothes off.

"Well that was fun," Sayuri sighed as she got back to work.

The sun was starting to set when they finished. The garden hadn't been tended to in a while and it was more weeds than flowers. Ayano came out to survey their work and smiled.

"Well, looks pretty good. What do you think, Miss Sato?"

"Very nice," the woman praised. She handed the payment to Ayano, who quickly split it between the three girls. Split three ways, it wasn't much. "Would you like to stay for dinner?"

The three girl's stomachs rumbled and they were about to say yes when Ayano laughed, "No, we'll leave you to it. Have a nice day!" She started walking off, leaving her team no choice but to follow.

"So, how was your first mission?" Ayano asked grandly as they walked back into the town proper.

"Boring," Kiyomi complained. "And pointless. How does that help us become better shinobi?"

Something flickered in Ayano's eyes. Sayuri couldn't see, but Miyako caught it and realized what the point of this was. The duty of a shinobi was to protect and aid their village. It was the protecting stuff that always made for a grand story, the aiding… well, it wasn't necessarily exciting, but it still needed to be done. Ayano wanted to pick out the complainers. Kiyomi wasn't making a good first impression, that was for sure.

"I'll see you three tomorrow," Ayano said. "We'll do something a bit different. Meet me at the Academy at seven. Well, I'm off for a drink." She winked at them. "This is when all of the jonin teachers get together and talk about the new generation. Whoever has the best team gets free drinks." She sighed. "Either Kakashi or Asuma are gonna win this year, I know it."

Kiyomi scowled in annoyance at that, but Sayuri and Miyako both knew that objectively it was true. Naruto didn't have much in the way of raw talent, but he had staggering amounts of chakra and a lot of guts. Sasuke was… awesome, there was no other word for it. Sakura was more of a thinker than a fighter, but that wasn't a bad thing.

Shikamaru was a planner, no mistake, and a dangerous one. Choji may not look very threatening, but there was a reason his dad was a respected shinobi. Ino's Mind Transfer Jutsu was a serious threat and she had some of the best grades. Really, they were both formidable teams.

Even Kurenai, with an Inuzuka, a Hyuga - and the heiress no less - and an Aburame, was leading a pretty powerful team.

They were good, certainly, but they were not great like some of the people on those other teams were.

"I don't want to go home yet," Kiyomi whined. "This has been a pretty good day, I don't want it to end yet."

Miyako bit her lip. "We could all go out to dinner? We have a bit of money. We couldn't go anywhere really nice, but…"

"You're a genius!" Kiyomi praised, hugging her tightly. "I know an awesome place not far from here!" She grabbed Miyako's wrist and started tugging her off. Miyako seized Sayuri, making a chain of people.

The place Kiyomi took them looked like a hole in the wall at first, just a small place stuck between a grocery and a dry cleaner. There were tables scattered everywhere, far enough apart to be discrete. A bar ran along one wall where a trio of chunin were nursing drinks and looking tired. A few people were scattered around, reading or working to the music playing softly.

"Ow!" Sayuri yelped as she ran into the door frame when she tried to walk in. "Who put that there?" she groaned.

Miyako pulled her through the door, shaking her head. "Are you okay?"

"Fine," Sayuri grumbled.

"They have the best deserts here," Kiyomi said, sitting down at a table by one wall. Miyako and Sayuri followed her lead. They plucked out the menus from a little stand by the wall and started looking over it. Miyako quietly read out several options she thought Sayuri might like. A waitress came over and they placed their orders.

"I can't _wait_ to get a shower," Kiyomi said, making a face at the dirt under her fingernails. "I feel all sweaty and gross."

"It's not so bad," Miyako assured her.

"You could be bloody as well," Sayuri put in. Kiyomi made a face.

"Suppose so. Still, what was _that?_ Weeding a _garden?"_

"Someone has to do it," Sayuri said reasonably.

"Yeah, but not us," Kiyomi scoffed. "We're shinobi. We're trained to fight and protect, not pull up plants."

"I know it doesn't seem like much, but Ayano's right, she can't just throw us into the world. We need to learn more. These little missions need to be done and we might as well do them and earn some money."

"I know," Kiyomi sighed, slumping in her seat. "But… I don't know, I just hoped once we got out of the Academy things would be more exciting. We're fully-fledged shinobi now!"

"We won't be doing things like this all day every day," Sayuri pointed out. "There will be days when we just train."

"Training with Ayano," Kiyomi said happily. "I dreamed about that as a kid. I just never thought she would start teaching genin again! I wonder why she started again?"

"I bet it was Sayuri," Miyako theorized.

"Miyako," Sayuri said, shifting uncomfortably. "I really doubt she came out of retirement purely to teach me. She's been giving me tips for years."

"Think about it though," Miyako suggested. "Maybe she did it as a favor to Satoru?"

"Satoru doesn't ask for favors like that," Sayuri said, shaking her head. "And he certainly doesn't ask_ Ayano_ for favors like that. He'd be too nervous."

"They're so cute," Miyako sighed dreamily.

"Wait, wait, is Ayano _with_ this Satoru?" Kiyomi asked blankly. "Like _together?_"

"No," Sayuri admitted. "But they both like each other. It's very clear. They just haven't done anything about it."

"And they've known each other since they were genin?" Kiyomi said, a giggle escaping. "That's so sweet! How long have they liked each other?"

Sayuri smiled slightly. Bonding over their teacher's love life. Who'd have thought?

"I don't know exactly," Sayuri said. "But I think Satoru's liked her longer."

"He gets this puppy dog expression on his face when he thinks she's not looking," Miyako smiled. "I wish someday some guy would look at me like that. It's adorable."

"Oh!" Kiyomi said, perking up suddenly as a new song came on. "I like this song!"

_You make me this, bring me up, bring me down, plays it sweet. Make me move like a freak, Mr. Saxobeat. Makes me this, brings me up, brings me down, plays it sweet. Makes me move like a freak, Mr. Saxobeat._

Kiyomi started singing along, dancing in place in her chair. She hadn't been lying, she had a nice voice.

"I know this song too," Miyako admitted softly, blushing slightly.

"Then sing along!" Kiyomi encouraged. "What's the problem?"

_Hey, sexy boy, set me free, don't be so shy, play with me. My dirty boy, can't you see that you belong next to me?_

"It's a little… bold," she said shyly.

"So?" Kiyomi snorted. "Be bold right back!"

Miyako started singing softly as well and Kiyomi sang louder.

"Come on Sayuri!" Kiyomi invited.

Sayuri had never in her life sang along with a song, let alone in public. People were already looking at Kiyomi in surprise and Miyako was quietly singing along, her face beat red, sending terrified glances around the restaurant.

"You are shameless," Sayuri concluded. Kiyomi shrugged in response and got louder. Her confidence made Miyako's voice a bit stronger and Sayuri shook her head and joined in. She hadn't heard it before, but the lyrics were simple and repetitive. By the last line, they were all singing along.

_Makes me move like a freak. You make me this, bring me up, bring me down, Saxobeat. You make me this, bring me up, bring me down, Saxobeat._

A few people around the restaurant jokingly clapped as their meals were brought out, and one of the chunin at the bar raised his glass to them and drunkenly cried, "Encore!"

The three girls dissolved into giggles before digging into their food, casually conversing about everything and anything they thought of from the latest gossip to making up stories about the other patrons.

Sayuri was surprised at how well this was working. She'd assumed her stand-offishness and Miyako's shyness would make getting to know people, particularly someone as big as Kiyomi, difficult. This was actually going well though. Kiyomi was there to draw both of them out and they were there to pull her back if she got too wild.

The truth was, sometimes opposites _do_ attract.

* * *

"Alright, who's ready for another mission?" Ayano called as they all met up outside of the Academy. She held up some microphones and headsets on one finger and bobbed her eyebrows.

"Awesome!" Kiyomi cheered. "This has to be better than weeding gardens!"

"Uh huh!" Ayano said happily. "This time, we're tracking down a cat."

Kiyomi's smile slid off. "Are you serious?"

"Uh huh," Ayano grinned. "Tora's escaped again."

"Tora?" Miyako said blankly.

"Tora belongs to Madam Shijimi, the wife of the Fire Daimyo," Ayano exclaimed. "It's a rite of passage. Every genin team has had to track down that cat at one point or another."

"Does she just not watch her cat?" Kiyomi asked blankly.

"Ah, no," Ayano winced. "You'll see when we return her to her owner. Come on, I know where she likes to hide."

They ended up in a forest. Sayuri's sensing made the task much easier than anticipated, as she was able to find the cat quickly. They all moved into place around the feline.

"Ready?" Ayano whispered into her microphone.

"In position."

"Ready."

"You bet."

"Alright. On my count. Three… two… one… Go!"

Miyako burst out of the foliage, startling the cat from its perch on a tree limb. It leapt to the ground with a yowl and started for the brush. Sayuri swung her arm and cried, "Digital Shrapnel!"

The bones of her fingers shot out and drilled into the ground in front of the cat. It howled and abruptly reversed, right into Kiyomi's waiting arms. She scooped the cat up, beaming.

"I got i- Oh my god! Stop! Ow! Why is it doing that?" she screamed as Tora sank her claws into whatever bit of skin was closest. Sayuri jumped out of her perch in the tree and seized Tora by the scruff of her neck. The bow-wearing cat hung limply in her grip, resigned.

"Well, that was relatively painless!" Ayano said brightly, stepping out of the brush.

"Speak for yourself," Kiyomi growled, glaring at the cat scruffed in Sayuri's grip.

"Should you hold it like that?" Miyako asked hesitantly, looking at the cat.

"It's how their mothers carry them," Sayuri shrugged. "She should be fine. Besides, I'm not bringing her anywhere near my torso."

"Come on, let's return her," Ayano said. She ruffled the cat's ears. "Pick better hiding places, my friend," she advised.

* * *

They did indeed see why Tora kept running away. Her owner apparently repeatedly attempted to strangle to feline in the name of love, disguised as 'cuddles.' The three genin stared after Madam Shijimi as she left, clutching Tora to her.

"You know, now I almost feel sorry for that cat," Kiyomi admitted.

"That didn't take as long as expected," Ayano said, stretching casually. "How about we head over to the training field and do a little bit of work?"

"Yes!" Kiyomi cheered. "That would be awesome!"

Ayano took them to an empty training field and her team assembled in a line in front of her.

"Alright, hands up. Who here specializes in ninjutsu?" she asked. No hands went up. Ayano frowned.

"Genjutsu?"

Miyako raised her hand hesitantly. Ayano grinned.

"Alright, genjutsu! Never was any good at it myself," she admitted. "So, your best jutsu. Right now, lay it on me."

Miyako paled. "Are you _serious?_ You want me to _attack _you?" she squeaked.

"Attack is a strong word," Ayano reasoned. "You're a genin, chances are the most you've learned is how to distort the real world around me. So, come on. Try it."

Miyako took a deep breath and brought her hands together, flicking through hand signs. Ayano blinked as the genjutsu set.

"Release," Ayano said casually, brushing the illusion aside. "Basic, but well done," she praised. "A pretty good execution, but in the future don't try to use it head on. Genjutsu works best when someone doesn't even know it's been used."

Miyako flushed in pleasure and nodded. "I'll remember that."

"And I hear you've got the Hasekura kekkei genkai," Ayano said with a grin. "What's it called again?"

Miyako paled in fear. "S-Saiketsu."

"Alright, let's see it," Ayano said, gesturing. "Some kind of healing thing, right?"

"Y-Yes, b-but-"

In no time Ayano had slashed a small cut on her palm and held it out.

"I know it's not much but at least we can see what you can do," she said with a grin. Miyako shivered as she looked at the cut.

"I-I c-can't-"

"Miyako's not good with the healing aspect of Saiketsu," Sayuri said softly.

It was a great shame for Miyako within her family. The Hasekura's were healers, first and foremost. The clan was small but powerful, and most of their members were med-nin or regular doctors. Their kekkei genkai, Saiketsu, manipulated blood. They used it to stop bleeding and encourage healing. Having a Hasekura on your team was pretty much a guarantee wounds weren't a big deal and blood loss wasn't an issue.

However, the blood didn't have to be outside of someone's body. All it took was a brush of skin to insert chakra into the bloodstream and the Saiketsu could allow you to manipulate the blood inside the body. You could stop a heart, cause a stroke, kill a limb, or even rip a person apart. You could also make them your puppet. It was at this that Miyako was – to her great shame and horror – a master.

"Then what can you do?" Ayano asked in confusion.

Miyako looked like she was about to cry. She touched Ayano's hand and inserted her chakra, coaxing it through the bloodstream. Like a puppet master, she raised her hands, fingers stiff. Ayano was lifted into the air with a startled yelp. Miyako flicked her fingers and Ayano's arms and legs moved about.

Miyako quickly broke the bond and lowered her hands, face burning in shame.

"That's awesome!" Kiyomi cheered. Ayano looked vaguely startled.

"That's very impressive Miyako," Ayano encouraged, but she knew precisely why Miyako looked ill. That was invasive, it took a way a person's free will, and something like that was enough to make even her a bit nauseous, let alone someone as sensitive as Miyako. "I think I'll leave that kind of training to your clan, though. They know better than me."

Miyako looked at her, grateful Ayano wasn't going to make her practice it in front of people or, worse, _on_ people she knew.

"Alright, so you two ladies are taijutsu," Ayano reasoned, turning to Kiyomi and Sayuri and breaking the tenseness with a clap of her hands. "Kiyomi, you first. Come at, me show me what you can do."

Kiyomi wasted no time, charging in with her fists and feet. Ayano calmly blocked her strikes with her own limbs before throwing in a few attacks of her own. Kiyomi dodged and blocked them pretty well, until a knee caught her in the stomach and sent her flying. Kiyomi hurled a few kunai as she went flying, trying to keep Ayano back. Ayano just blurred, appearing behind Kiyomi and grabbing her, putting her in a headlock.

"Don't assume your opponent will come at you from the front," Ayano warned. "Keep a kunai ready at all times. Your technique is good, but you should work on your strength. There wasn't as much power as I'd like to see behind your punches."

"Alright," Kiyomi said with a wince. Ayano released her and Kiyomi fell back into her place in line.

"Alright Sayuri, you're up. I know how you roll."

A short bone sword slid from Sayuri's palm and she gripped it tightly, holding it at her side. She rushed at Ayano, who was now using the armored backs of her gloves to block the blows. Sayuri combined her blade with kicks and punches on withdraws, locking up one of Ayano's hands and then throwing a punch or kick.

Ayano took her down by tangling her stronger legs around Sayuri's, dropping her and pinning her with a foot on her sword hand.

Ayano raised an eyebrow. "You haven't been working out as much lately, have you?"

Sayuri flushed. "With graduation-"

"No excuses," Ayano said sternly. "I gave you those exercises to do, so do them. You've gotten weaker. Your movements are still as smooth and purposeful as usual though, so good job there."

"Yes ma'am," Sayuri sighed, rising as Ayano removed her foot.

"Okay ladies," Ayano said, running her hands together and sitting down on the ground. "Let's begin our day with some nice, relaxing stretches, shall we?"

Miyako quickly realized as Ayano put them through basic exercises that she was still testing them. She gave them stretches to see what kind of flexibility they each possessed. There were laps to see how fast they were and what their stamina was like. Pushups, sit ups, and crunches tested their strength.

Miyako was pleased with how well she did. As far as flexibility went, she could work on bending her limbs a bit more, but she could execute perfect backbends in seconds. She was pretty fast, but she couldn't go for as long. Stamina was really her weak point. She was fairly strong, thanks to her habit of doing pushups and sit ups in her room and then laying into a punching bag before bed every night.

Sayuri did the best. Miyako knew why. Sayuri trained hard and did about what Ayano put them through every day. Sayuri had somewhat lessened her nearly-obsessive cleaning over the years and now most of her early mornings were spent stretching. She went for a run when she came home from the Academy and before bed she had the same habit as Miyako of doing strength exercises, but she did more under the watchful eye of Satoru. She'd had to get good, fast, to keep up with his expectations.

Kiyomi seemed to struggle the most. Unlike Miyako, she was very flexible in her limbs, but she could not execute a proper backbend to save her life. She was definitely weaker than the other two physically. She held her own on the laps, indicating she spent more time on speed than strength, but she had the same problem Miyako did with stamina, burning out quickly and panting as she went.

"Alright ladies, now the real fun begins," Ayano said as she stared at the line of sweaty girls.

Ayano gave them punishing series of kata to work through and was ruthless in her critique. While she was fairly lackadaisical in her everyday life, she took fighting very seriously and made sure every move was perfect. She frequently jumped in front of them, showing them what they were doing wrong by illustrating how an opponent could get around it, giving them soft hits to sensitive areas or knocking them down.

Sayuri knew exactly why Ayano was like this too. She'd noticed it during her first year with Satoru. Ayano came over one day and just sat silently at the table, drinking tea with Satoru. She didn't say a word beyond 'hi' and 'thanks for the tea' and Satoru respected that silence. He just sat there and held her hand while she sipped her drink.

Once she was gone, Sayuri had asked Satoru why Ayano seemed so down. He'd very sadly explained to her that it was the anniversary of what she considered her greatest failure. He told her about the last genin team Ayano trained. They went out on a C-rank mission and were attacked by a group of Mist-nin. Her entire team was killed under her watch, and Ayano was the only survivor. She blamed herself for their deaths and was always down when the anniversary came down.

It was why she'd stopped teaching genin teams. Ayano didn't want the responsibility of genin lives on her hand. Some from every class invariably died and she didn't want that on her conscience.

"She goes to the KIA stone today every year and puts flowers there," Satoru explained.

Kiyomi might complain about getting lame missions, and even Sayuri and Miyako were starting to get annoyed, but at least Sayuri knew why. Ayano was trying to protect them. She wasn't letting them out of the village until she was confident that they weren't going to get in over themselves and get themselves killed. Maybe she was paranoid, but it was to their advantage, so Sayuri refused to let herself complain, no matter how tempting it became as the months dragged on with little quests.

They all were getting stronger, and at a staggering rate. Part of this was because Ayano didn't accept giving up and made them keep going until they got something, which included keeping Miyako at the training field for three solid days until she got a new, higher-level genjutsu down pat. If they so much as muttered anything along the lines of 'it's too hard' or 'I can't do it' Ayano was there with a quick smack to the back of the skull and a very loud 'lecture.'

"If I'd given up when everyone told me I was never going to be any good at ninjutsu, where would I be, huh? I'd just be good for kicking things, and where's the fun in that? Now I can use lightning, and I can use it in a way no one else can! Yeah, it was hard, and there were times I thought maybe I couldn't do it, but I kept my mouth shut and I kept pushing and now I'm one of our best-known kunoichi and I have people begging me to teach them my technique! So I don't want to hear you ever say that you can't do something, because that's just stupid and weak. If you give up, then of course you can't! When I was your age-"

It would continue in this vein for a while, Ayano impressing them all with her lung capacity and the strength of her vocal cords, before she finally wound down and set them to their task again, this time watching closely with a stern look on her face.

Ayano made up different training plans for each of them, working to their strengths. Like she'd said when they first came to the training grounds, Ayano was no good at genjutsu. In fact, she was also well known for how _bad_ she was at it. Mostly she gave Miyako books to read on techniques and asked Kurenai how to train her. Miyako was a better distance fighter. She was quite accurate with her throws, so Ayano also gave her several long-range ninjutsu to learn, teaching her how to refine them. Miyako showed herself to be quite proficient with wind-based attacks, even using them to speed up and conceal her thrown weapons.

Kiyomi and Sayuri benefitted from both being taijutsu types, like Ayano. Sayuri's kekkei genkai gave her the advantage in their fights though. She was capable of growing a membrane of bone under her skin, so even swipes and stabs with a kunai just meant cuts, no deep wounds. Ayano made her work diligently on her kekkei genkai, developing it, as well as teaching her new taijutsu and kenjutsu moves. She had proven herself to be completely incapable with genjutsu. Ayano gave her a few ninjutsu techniques to study, but she was undoubtedly better suited for taijutsu.

Kiyomi showed equal skill for taijutsu and ninjutsu. Ayano worked with her especially on the ninjutsu, leaving her taijutsu training mostly down to spars with Sayuri. That way, their team would have an expert in each of the three disciplines. Kiyomi was very good with fire-based techniques just like Sayuri and showed a surprising knack for them, considering her grades in the area hadn't exactly been stellar back in the Academy. Because of this, Ayano spent most of her time with Kiyomi, urging her to try harder.


	8. Hard Work

**Truth: You only got what you worked for.**

Kiyomi stomped the ground and threw up her hands in irritation. "This is stupid! I can't do it!" she screamed in frustration. The only reason she dared to say it was that Ayano had been called away from their training for a meeting with some other jonin and wasn't there to deliver one of her lectures. "Ayano keeps giving me all these ninjutsu to learn and then just watching me like a hawk! It's too much pressure! And then every tiny screw up I make she jumps on!"

Miyako and Sayuri glanced at each other. They knew precisely why Ayano was always watching Kiyomi. It was because she reminded Ayano of herself as a genin. Ayano had been just like her, a taijutsu fighter until she showed a talent for ninjutsu. Her teacher jumped on it and pushed her, just as Ayano was now pushing Kiyomi, and Ayano was incredibly grateful for that. Because of that pressure, she was now as good as she was.

They both watched as Kiyomi attempted the ninjutsu once more. She flicked through the hand signs easily, but the fire only shot a few feet weakly and then crackled out of existence. Kiyomi threw up her hands and screamed once more.

"Why can't I do this?" Kiyomi demanded furiously, slamming her fist on the tree next to her. "I should be able to do this by now!"

Miyako and Sayuri exchanged glances again, silently debating who was going to handle this. Sayuri stepped up, placing a hand on Kiyomi's shoulder comfortingly.

"You'll get it," she said confidently. "It's a tough technique. Ayano's trying to challenge you and make you better. You know how she works."

"You can do it," Kiyomi said petulantly, giving her a dark look. Sayuri blinked at the hostility she felt rolling off of her teammate.

"Well, are you practicing after training on your own?" Sayuri tried.

"No. I've already worked on it during training for hours."

"Try working on it after training," Sayuri suggested. "If I'm having trouble with a technique I spend at least an hour on it that night during my personal training. I'll ask Satoru and Ayano for help and try to describe the problem I'm having with it as much as possible. Sometimes it really helps to work on it alone and have someone to ask and help guide you while you-"

"Shut_ up!_" Kiyomi snapped, shoving Sayuri's hand off and whirling on her. Sayuri blinked in surprise and drew back, holding her hand to her chest in shock. Kiyomi had never blown up like this before. She'd thought they were getting along fine lately. "Believe it or not, it gets _really_ annoying with you walking around acting like you know everything and talking down to me!" she roared.

"Guys. Please don't-" Miyako began, but she was cut off.

"I don't _talk down_ to you," Sayuri insisted, offended. She shut Miyako out of the conversation because she knew the girl couldn't handle any kind of confrontation between friends. She'd end up in tears and hating herself for not being able to fix the problem. It was best to simply lock her out. "I'm just trying to _help!"_

"Yeah? Well _knock it off_! I don't need help from _you!"_

"From _me?"_ Sayuri repeated softly, hearing the unsaid words in the air. _Blind. Freak. _Miyako whimpered slightly."I'll endeavor to keep my opinions to myself in the future," she said shortly.

"Do that," Kiyomi snapped, storming off.

"Kiyomi, come back!" Miyako begged, running a few steps after her. She looked between Sayuri and Kiyomi helplessly. "Guys, don't fight, please!"

"Leave her," Sayuri sighed. "Let her blow off some steam. Hopefully this will have blown over by training tomorrow." She rubbed her forehead wearily. "I didn't mean to talk down to her. I just wanted to help," she said softly.

"I know," Miyako said, touching her shoulder lightly. "You weren't. Kiyomi's just kind of touchy lately."

"Do you have any idea what's going on?" Sayuri asked. Miyako shook her head sadly.

"I don't know what's gotten into her. She just always seems angry," Miyako sighed. "I wonder if something's… going on at home?" she said nervously.

"I doubt that," Sayuri scoffed. "I doubt Kiyomi would be able to put up with any kind of abuse."

"I guess you would know." Miyako slapped a hand over her mouth, eyes wide and horrified. "I'm so sorry Sayuri, I didn't mean for that to come out! I'm sorry, I really didn't mean to say that!" She put her hands over her face. "Oh, I'm a terrible friend, saying something like tha-"

"Breathe," Sayuri chuckled. Miyako took a few deep breaths. "I'm not offended Miyako. It's true." She shook her head. "What are we going to do about Kiyomi?"

"What are we going to do about Kiyomi?" Ayano repeated, appearing behind them. She looked around and crossed her arms, scowling in displeasure. "Where is she?"

"We got in a fight," Sayuri explained. "She left."

"And what was this fight about?" Ayano asked, raising an eyebrow. This was new. She'd never seen her team fight before, beyond the petty squabbles every team got into. There'd certainly never been a fight resulting in one of them getting mad and storming off.

"Nothing important," Sayuri said, covering for Kiyomi. "We're just tired and touchy today."

Ayano's eyebrows went higher. "Yeah, because you and Miyako are totally the types to blow up when you get sleepy. Please, I know you girls better than that. Come on, spill. What happened?"

"I really was nothing," Miyako insisted. Ayano's eyes narrowed.

"I'm getting an answer. Stop covering for each other and tell me," she said warningly. She was a happy person usually, but this was her team and she wasn't letting anything tear it apart, especially while she was watching from the outside with no idea what was going on.

Miyako looked to Sayuri, who sighed. "Kiyomi was upset that she was struggling to get a technique. I tried to help and suggested she practice after training and ask around for help, like you told me to."

"Go on," Ayano nodded.

"She started shouting that Sayuri was always talking down to her and it just sort of… escalated," Miyako finished sadly.

"I see," Ayano said, narrowing her eyes. "And then she ran off?"

"Miyako tried to call her back, but she wouldn't come," Sayuri explained.

"Uh huh," Ayano nodded. "I'm not going to stand for cutting training and running off to cry because you've got some PMS going on or whatever. We're all shinobi. It's hard. That's no excuse. Training's over for today," she added to Sayuri and Miyako. "I'm going to go talk to Kiyomi."

She shot up into the trees with a blur and could be seen leaping from rooftop to rooftop in the distance.

"Do you think we should go with her?" Miyako asked worriedly.

"If she wanted us along she would have invited us," Sayuri said. She pulled her hitai-ate off and rubbed her eyes tiredly. "Really, what's wrong with Kiyomi lately?"

"Should we wait a while and go talk to her?" Miyako suggested.

"To be honest," Sayuri said, a bit of irritation leaking into her voice. "I don't particularly want to see Kiyomi right now. I want to go home, take a shower, and then let out my frustrations on an innocent block of wood."

"Okay," Miyako sighed. "I just wish there was something we could do to help her," she said sadly. "I don't like all this fighting. I feel like we're coming apart," she whispered, wrapping her arms around herself.

"If Kiyomi wanted our help she would tell us what the problem was," Sayuri reasoned, putting her hands on Miyako's shoulders and rubbing comfortingly. "It'll be okay. Ayano will sort this out. We'll fix everything tomorrow during training and things will be back to normal."

"I hope you're right," Miyako said, shaking her head. "I don't think I could take it if you guys got in a fight like that again," she admitted ruefully.

"I'm sorry for talking over you earlier," Sayuri apologized as they both headed towards the town proper. "I know you don't like fights and I was trying to spare you that."

"I know," Miyako smiled slightly. "I'm kind of glad you did. But you protect me too much," she whined slightly.

"Of course I do. You're my friend," Sayuri blinked. "That's how friends work, I thought."

Miyako chuckled and hugged her. "They do. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Bye."

Sayuri, true to her word, returned to the apartment she shared with Satoru and readied her comfiest pair of pajamas before stepping into the shower. She'd quickly discovered that showers could cure anything. Whenever something was weighing on her mind she'd crawl into the shower and let the scalding water pound down on her for a while, lulling her into a meditative state.

This time, it was the sudden realization that the water was leaning dangerously close to ice that made her hastily shut it off and step out. Sayuri reached for a towel but paused. She ran her hand over her body, feeling for any changes, any muscles getting softer.

With all the exercise a shinobi got from training and missions, none of them had _bad_ bodies, per say. But for kunoichi, there were a few things you wanted to try and avoid or risk being called masculine. You wanted your arms and legs toned, not bulky. Your shoulders shouldn't be too broad. The outline of abs on your stomach was fine, but a true six-pack was kind of a put-off for most guys.

There were times Sayuri wished she had larger breasts or wider hips like Ino. She didn't have to see to know all about Ino's famous assets, she just had to listen to guys talk around her. Then she would firmly remind herself that things like that were actually a disadvantage in her profession. Big breasts meant you had to tape them down as flat as possible, or they bounced around painfully, and you were more likely to have back problems. Wider hips made it more difficult to maneuver.

All in all, Sayuri was happy with how she looked. She fit most of the guidelines. Shoulders not too broad, toned limbs, and a flat stomach. There wasn't much of a dip at her waist, but that was fine. She was perfectly content with her B-cup, as it made life much easier.

Sayuri climbed into her pajamas and went to her room. From a small basket under her bed, she took her knife and a bit of wood, then thought again and pushed a bone from her arm. She wanted the challenge of a harder material. Sayuri sat herself down on the bed cross-legged and lay a little bit of plastic sheeting across her lap to catch the shavings before setting to work.

Her knife moved mindlessly, an idea of what she wanted it to look like drifting absently in the back of her mind. Mostly, she was focused on Kiyomi.

She couldn't understand what made Kiyomi lash out like she did today. Sure, tension and pressure were liable to make anyone snap, but she'd never thought Ayano was that rough on them. Strict, but fair, Satoru had once described her teaching as, and Sayuri agreed. So long as you did what she said, you were fine, but if you didn't, you would be punished. It was to your best advantage to follow her advice. She knew what she was talking about and you would get better.

That said, Sayuri knew that Kiyomi didn't do the supplementary exercises Ayano gave them, and then complained later on when Sayuri and Miyako were better than her. That had always vaguely annoyed Sayuri. It was like she was very willing to reap the reward but not willing to put in the work.

Sayuri couldn't understand that. It had been an overarching truth her whole life. You only got what you worked for. No magical talent fairy was suddenly going to suddenly swoop down and make you a wonderful painter or give you the ability to dance ballet. It took practice and dedication. Kiyomi was dedicated, sure, but it was the practice part she avoided.

"Sayuri, are you home?" Satoru asked in surprise, poking his head in the door of her room. He'd been out on a brief mission to deliver a scroll and was surprised when he came home to find the mirror in the bathroom fogged up and the sound of whittling coming from Sayuri's room.

"I thought you had training with Ayano today," Satoru said, stepping fully into the room. He looked at the bone in Sayuri's hands and the large pile of shavings in her lap and sighed. "Okay, what happened?" he asked, moving to sit beside her on the bed.

"What makes you think something happened?" Sayuri asked with forced breeziness.

"The fact that you've reduced that radius to a senbon. A _pretty_ senbon, but still," Satoru said with a small smile, examining the tiny flowers carved into the side of it.

Sayuri sighed and the pile of shavings began to move, crawling back into her skin like a swarm of insects. She shoved the senbon into her equipment pouch carelessly and stuck the knife back under her bed.

"There was a fight," she said shortly.

"A fight," Satoru said in surprise.

"Kiyomi got angry when I tried to help her get better at a technique she was struggling with. She accused me of talking down to her and I think she almost started throwing punches. Instead she just ran off. Ayano's pissed."

"Language!" Satoru said sharply. Sayuri winced.

"Sorry. I'm just annoyed," she sighed, burying her face in her hands. "I don't know what I did."

"You know, you may not have done anything," Satoru said, rubbing her back. "It's not like your team is the only part of her life. You guys have gotten closer, but there's still things about each other you don't know. Kiyomi may have been annoyed about something completely different and she just lost it. You were nearby and got the worst of it."

"I know that her father doesn't approve of her being a kunoichi," Sayuri recalled. "He wants her to stay in the family business."

"There you go," Satoru encouraged. "Maybe her dad's been on her more lately and she's just stressed. It may not have anything to do with you."

"Perhaps not," Sayuri sighed.

"See?" Satoru said with a smile. "Not a big deal. Now, I'm going to jump in the shower – provided someone hasn't used up all the hot water," he added, giving her a mock-stern look.

"I may or may not have," Sayuri admitted. Satoru sighed mournfully.

"You're lucky I like you…"

"Indeed I am."

* * *

Sayuri woke in the morning and did her exercises, doing more than usual to make up for slacking off the day before. She did some light cleaning and then got started on breakfast. Satoru was sleeping in, still a bit tired from his mission, so she left his breakfast on the table with a note telling him she was at the training field and then started off.

Miyako caught up with her about five minutes into her walk.

"I'm nervous about today," she admitted. "I don't want this to get even worse."

"It won't," Sayuri said confidently. "Ayano wouldn't allow it. I think she'd tie us up and leave us there to sort out our own problems before letting things get worse."

Miyako chuckled slightly at that. "Didn't Satoru say she tied up her students in the past?"

"He was joking." Sayuri paused, contemplating. "...I think."

They arrived at the training field a bit earlier than usual, hoping to score extra points with Ayano in case she was still annoyed. However, when they arrived, they saw Kiyomi had the same idea, and she was not alone. Sayuri threw out her hand and Miyako paused, the two of them just inside the trees, listening.

"Why are you just standing here? You could be working!" a silver-haired man was shouting at Kiyomi. "You know our deal!"

"I _know_ dad, I know!" Kiyomi said hastily. "It's just they should be here any minute and-"

"And you're slacking off and being _lazy_. If you aren't any good you won't be able to make a living with this, and then you'll be helping me in the kiln like you _should_ be. That woman who stopped by last night said you'd cut training early." He shook his head. "Abandoning your position helping your family provide for themselves…"

"I don't want to spend the rest of my life making _vases_!" Kiyomi shouted, losing her temper and gesturing violently.

"Oh? And what's wrong with that?" the man demanded defensively.

"Nothing's _wrong_ with it! It's just not for me!"

"Because you're too good to get your hands dirty," the man snorted.

"What? That's crazy! If I was too good to get my hands dirty I wouldn't have become a ninja!"

"And you _shouldn't_ have!" the man roared. "You should have _stayed_ and helped your _family!_"

He turned on his heel and stomped off, leaving Kiyomi standing in the middle of the training field, slumped and looking defeated.

"What am I going to do about him?" she groaned, covering her eyes. Miyako and Sayuri exchanged looks and stepped from the trees, moving forwards. It seems they had found the source of Kiyomi's stress. Apparently her father had indeed been on her more than usual lately about helping her family.

"I'm sorry, we didn't know," Sayuri apologized softly when they were in front of Kiyomi. She looked up at them, eyes red. Her face was still a bit angry.

"Didn't know my dad was trying to make me _stop_ being a ninja and continue the family business unless I started making _real_ money? Why would you?" Kiyomi snapped. This explained why she'd wanted to go on more difficult missions so badly. They meant extra pay. "Don't even _act_ sorry Sayuri, you don't care!"

"I _do_ care!" Sayuri retorted. "We're a team, we should stick together!"

"_Should_, not _will!_" Kiyomi snapped. "We _should_ stick together, but you wouldn't if you didn't have to. God, you're so arrogant, you think you're _better than everyone _Sayuri!"

"I do not!" Sayuri protested, rocking back on her heels.

"Yes you _do!_ You talk over Miyako all the time! She can't help it that she stutters, and you just start talking like she's not even trying to say anything!"

Sayuri's eyes went cold. Was Kiyomi assuming she knew more about Miyako that Sayuri herself did? They'd been friends for years. Kiyomi had been speaking to Miyako for only a few months. "I do that because I know Miyako struggles to get her thoughts in order sometimes, so I give her the time to decide what she wants to say. Which you'd _know_ if you paid her any attention other than to baby her. She's stronger than you think."

"You know what? _Forget_ about Miyako. You know what pisses me off more than anything?"

"Do tell, I'm _dying_ to know."

"My dad's always saying 'why aren't you as good as that Sayuri girl?' Well you know why dad?" Kiyomi shouted. "It's because her foster dad's screwing our teacher, and she's the poor blind girl. Everyone dotes on her and wants to see her be something amazing, but no one gives a damn about me! They don't care that I'll be trapped in a life I don't want if I fail. And I could be so much better than you if I just had all those opportunities you got served to you on a silver platter. Ayano always tells me what I'm doing wrong but she does nothing but praise you!"

"Leave Satoru out of this," Sayuri hissed. "Insult him one more time and you won't like the consequences."

"You're _threatening _me?" Kiyomi demanded. "You think you're so awesome, so big and bad with your kekkei genkai. Well let's see how you handle this! _Fireball Justu!"_

"Kiyomi, calm down!" Miyako cried in fear as she and Sayuri dove to the side.

"Are you insane?" Sayuri demanded, leaping to her feet. "What were you thinking?"

"I was thinking that I want to knock that smugness out of you!" Kiyomi snapped. "I was thinking I'm _done_ being second-best!"

"_Third best,"_ Sayuri spat. Anger poured through and now she was aiming to hurt. She was arrogant? She was in no way arrogant. She was proud of what she'd achieved, and there was no shame in that. She was _proud _of what she'd worked hard and accomplished. "Miyako's better than you as well."

Kiyomi howled and a bone shot from Sayuri's palm into her hand. She deflected the hail of kunai Kiyomi sent flying at her with it.

"Stop, stop!" Miyako was screaming, but now neither girl was backing down. They were too angry.

"You say I'm arrogant?" Sayuri demanded. "What about you? It's all about you, isn't it? You think you know Miyako so well and you don't! You think you're so very good at taijutsu but you still can't beat me!"

"Oh really?" Kiyomi snarled, narrowing her eyes.

_"Really."_

Kiyomi lunged and they exchanged a flurry of blows, Sayuri calmly blocking each and every punch or kick Kiyomi threw, making her angry at how effortless Sayuri made it look.

"Quit just _standing_ there!" Kiyomi screamed. "_Move!_ Do _something!_ Quit standing there all smug! _Fight me!"_

Sayuri had _worked_ so that her movements looked this effortless. She'd trained hard even after school and worked with Satoru when they were both free. She'd asked Ayano to tell her any small thing that was wrong in her movements. She'd asked her for additional exercises to do at home, and here was the difference between the two of them.

Sayuri possessed a large amount of natural talent. However, she hadn't just left well enough alone and been content to be an average shinobi. She'd worked hard with the goal of being one of the best in mind. Kiyomi, despite her desperation to avoid being trapped in the family business, had never gone the extra mile. She'd intended for her own not-inconsiderable raw talent to get her far enough, and it fell short, but even then she wasn't willing to accept extra responsibilities.

"You want me to do something?" Sayuri asked, arching an eyebrow. "Fine, I'll do something!"

The bone sword was in her hand again and suddenly Kiyomi was on the defensive, dodging and weaving frantically to avoid losing a limb as Sayuri moved her blade expertly, twisting and dipping it into complicated formations.

Miyako flew between the two of them, tapping each of them on their fingers. She stopped and raised her hands, pulling them apart. Both Kiyomi and Sayuri shouted in surprise and anger as they were tossed away from each other, and just in time.

Lightning struck the ground between the two girls. They both immediately sat up to see Ayano crouching in the center of the scorched black mark it left behind. Her expression was as serious as Sayuri had ever seen it.

"_What. Happened?"_ she snarled dangerously. Both Sayuri and Kiyomi started talking at the same time. Lightning crackled around Ayano and they immediately shut up, the hair on their arms rising in the electrified atmosphere. Ayano had never been this angry at them before.

"Miyako," Ayano said, eying the girl, who paled and began wringing her fingers. She was still shaking from using her Saiketsu on her friends, even if it was to keep them from hurting each other. She felt like she'd just betrayed them. "What happened? You tell me."

Miyako began talking, words quiet and running together, completely indistinguishable.

"I can't understand you!" Ayano shouted in frustration. Miyako whimpered and tried to get herself together.

"Sayuri and I w-were coming to train. We saw... Kiyomi f-fighting with her f-father. When h-he l-left Sayuri tried to c-comfort her. K-Kiyomi snapped at her and th-they started arguing. K-Kiyomi called S-Sayuri arrogant and insulted S-Satoru. Sa-Sayuri g-got mad about that and th-threatened her if she d-did it again. Ki-Kiyomi shot a Fireball Jutsu at her and said she was d-done being second best. Sa-Sayuri said she was third best, behind m-me. Then they started r-really fi-fighting," Miyako stammered, tears running down her cheeks. As soon as she started crying, Kiyomi and Sayuri felt guilty for dragging her into this, but they were still furious with each other.

Ayano turned on Kiyomi. "You threw the first attack?" she hissed. Kiyomi paled.

"She's always walking around like she knows everything!" Kiyomi shouted desperately, pointing at Sayuri. "I was sick of it! You always praise her, but you keep picking out everything I do wrong!"

"Because I'm your teacher!" Ayano shouted back, throwing up her hands. "It's my job to tell you want you're doing wrong so you can get better. I tell Sayuri she's doing well because she _is_. She practices by herself if she's struggling. I'm sorry you're having trouble with your family, but maybe if you put in the extra time and improved some more, I'd be able to take you guys out on the kind of mission you're wanting to go on."

Kiyomi ducked her head, cowed, tears rolling down her cheeks as her idol rebuked her.

"And you!" Ayano said, turning on Sayuri, whose eyes widened in surprise. "What were you thinking pulling out your kekkei genkai for a petty squabble? You know those bones of yours are dangerous and you were using them to prove a point? I don't care if Kiyomi insulted you own mother, you _do not_ use that against your teammates. You could have calmly deflected her attacks and let her burn herself out. Under no circumstances should you have turned on her!"

Sayuri was now lowering her face as well, tears leaking from under her hitai-ate. Her team was falling apart…

"You guys are going to work out your issues," Ayano said shortly, narrowing her eyes furiously. "And you're not leaving here until you do."


	9. Reliance

**Truth: She could rely on her team.**

"I can't believe she really did it," Kiyomi said, wide-eyed.

Miyako, Sayuri, and Kiyomi were tied to poles in the middle of the training field, arms wrapped around them and tied at the wrist. One minute Ayano was just angry and then suddenly they were tied to poles and she was grinning maliciously.

"When you've worked it all out, then you can leave," she'd said brightly, before walking off.

"I always thought Satoru was just joking," Sayuri said weakly, recalling the times he'd mentioned her tying up her team.

An awkward pause.

"I'm… sorry I insulted Satoru," Kiyomi said awkwardly. "That was… uncalled for and… really out of line."

"Apology accepted," Sayuri replied stiffly. She wasn't really comfortable with touchy-feely moments like Ayano seemed to want this to turn into. "I'm sorry I called you third-best. That was harsh."

"No it wasn't," Kiyomi sighed sadly. Her eyes were trained on the ground. "I am. I know I should work harder, and I know I need to, but whenever I start to work on my exercises I always think of something else to do and then something else. I've always been bad about procrastination." Her eyes were watering. "I was just so _angry_ about everything with my dad, and I'm sorry I jumped on you like that Sayuri. It felt like you were just shoving my face in everything I was doing wrong and it hurt to hear. I'm really sorry," she said again, a tear rolling down her cheek. "I messed everything up. This was all my fault."

"No it wasn't," Sayuri sighed. "I could have just walked away, or let you just run yourself down like Ayano said. I shouldn't have let my anger get the best of me and I shouldn't have lashed out. I know better but I just got so angry…" She sighed. "When I was little, I was told every day that I was worthless, and for so long, I believed it. I thought I was weak and useless. Satoru saved me from that by bringing me here and because of that I've worked hard to show him he made the right decision. I just felt like… you were looking down on all of that and it's important to me. I lost it. I'm sorry."

"It's okay," Kiyomi said. She shook her head and gave a watery laugh. "We've all got issues, huh? I guess we were both just unknowingly poking in some sore spots and neither of us handled it well."

"We could definitely have handled it with less violence," Sayuri agreed with a weak laugh.

"And we both shouldn't have dragged Miyako into it," Kiyomi added, looking at the girl who'd been silent until, watching hopefully as Sayuri and Kiyomi worked it out. "That was uncalled for Miyako, and I'm sorry."

"I am too," Sayuri agreed, both of them smiling at Miyako, who beamed back happily.

"From now on, if Sayuri and I really feel the need to beat the crap out of each other, we'll leave you out of it," Kiyomi chuckled weakly.

"We'll go someplace private to pummel each other," Sayuri agreed. The three girls laughed a bit at that.

"I think it would help if we all made some resolutions here," Miyako suggested softly.

"What do you mean?" Kiyomi asked.

"Like if something's really bothering us, we tell each other. That way we know there's something wrong and we can deal with it. We won't have to bottle it up until we explode on someone for nothing."

"Thanks a good idea," Sayuri agreed. "Alright, I agree."

"Me too," Kiyomi nodded. Determination entered her face. "And from now on, I'm going to really work on that procrastination problem I have. I'm going to work hard and do what I need to do. I'm not going to let my dad run my life," she said matter-of-factly, promising herself to do better.

"That's good," Miyako praised.

"And I promise to only give advice if it's asked for," Sayuri said ruefully. "I can see how I can come off as sort of a know-it-all sometimes. I suppose I just try and help too much and end up digging my own grave."

"It's okay," Kiyomi replied. "You just told me what I needed to hear."

"Well then, I'll give unsolicited advice more often," Sayuri chuckled.

"I promise I'll never use Saiketsu on you guys again," Miyako said with surprising vehemence, guilt in her eyes. "Unless it's to heal you," she tacked on.

"It's okay, Miyako, we don't blame you," Sayuri assured her.

"Yeah, we needed someone to knock some sense into us," Kiyomi grinned.

"But… what I did… your blood…"

"Was inside a very stupid body at that point," Sayuri said. "And it needed to be stopped."

"Are we okay?" Miyako asked hopefully, taking Sayuri's words to heart as her guilt eased.

"Yeah, I think so," Kiyomi nodded. "I think we all just took things the wrong way and it sort of got out of control. I'm glad Ayano tied us to these poles and made us take a good, long look at ourselves."

"Speaking of which…." A bone slid from Sayuri's palm and cut through the ropes. She freed Kiyomi and Miyako, all of them rubbing their wrists.

"She tied them kind of tight," Miyako said, wincing slightly.

"That was scary." Kiyomi shivered, recalling Ayano's wrath. "I'm _never_ going to tick her off _ever_ again."

"Me neither," Sayuri agreed, shaking her head. "I have no desire to be electrocuted."

Miyako laughed and pulled the both of them into a hug. "I love you guys," she grinned into the three-way hug. "We're gonna be fine now, aren't we?"

"Just needed to clear the air," Kiyomi agreed.

"Yes, we are," Sayuri said. Privately though, she wasn't so sure. There were some things that couldn't be forgotten, words that couldn't be unsaid, actions that couldn't be undone. Sayuri and Kiyomi had both said and done some harsh things today and now she was worried that no matter how much they glossed over this, some residual ill feeling might still remain. She was scared a wedge had been driven between the two of them.

* * *

"Alright ladies," Ayano said, clapping her hands. Sayuri paused her stretches, Kiyomi stopped her laps, and Miyako quit doing pushups. A week had passed since the Team 9 explosion, and things were back on track. Sayuri and Kiyomi were getting along better, and keeping their promises. Kiyomi was getting better about doing the supplementary stuff Ayano gave her and Sayuri was better about not jumping in with advice every time anyone complained about something.

"Gather round!" Ayano called, and the three drifted forwards, lining up in front of their teacher. "Now, since the blow-up last week, I've been watching you guys, and I'm impressed. I think you've really gotten better. You're getting along better, and you're working harder. So… I think it's time for your first C-rank mission!" she announced grandly.

"Are you serious?" Kiyomi gaped. She threw up her hands and cheered. "Yay! This is awesome!"

"What's it going to be?" Miyako asked worriedly.

"We're guarding a man on his return to village on the outskirts of the Land of Fire."

"Why does he need protection for that?" Sayuri asked in surprise. The Land of Fire was fairly secure. Usually protection was only requested by those who were trying to get to another country or had sensitive information on their person. A regular villager who wasn't even leaving the country rarely needed help.

"His village is being attacked every fortnight by a group of raiders," Ayano explained. "He came here to request help from the Hokage in getting rid of them. He's also worried they'll try and attack him on the way back to his home for seeking help from Konohagakure. We're to protect him on the way home and guard him until the force of chunin they're sending out to handle the situation arrive. They need a day or two to mobilize."

"Raiders?" Miyako squeaked. "Do you think we're ready?"

"If I didn't think you were, I wouldn't let you go," Ayano replied honestly. "These guys aren't ninja, they're just a group of muscled-bound thugs who think they're big and bad. I'm not gonna let you three get hurt," she swore.

"When do we leave?" Kiyomi asked excitedly.

"How long is this going to take?" Sayuri added. "I'll need to tell Satoru…"

"Just leave him a note, he might not let you go if it means he'll be cooking for himself," Ayano chuckled. "You'll probably be gone about four days. Like I said, it's not far, and the chunin tend to get their act together pretty fast. We'll be meeting Yasushi, the guy we're going to guard, at the gate tomorrow at dawn. Any other questions?"

"What should we pack?" Miyako asked. Ayano chuckled.

"We won't be moving as fast as normal because of Yasushi, so I wouldn't weight yourself down with much aside from provisions. Maybe a change of clothes."

"Alright," Ayano nodded. "Go explain things to your parents and get started packing. I'd handle any things that need to be handled in the next week, just in case we have to stay longer than anticipated. Training's over for now. It's time for the big leagues, kiddies," she grinned.

"Can you believe this?" Kiyomi grinned as they headed off. "A C-rank mission, our first one! Maybe now my dad will get off my case!"

"Let's hope," Miyako grinned weakly.

"Maybe we can convince him for you," Sayuri said, a bone sliding from her palm. She tossed it and caught it casually. Kiyomi grinned.

"You have no idea how much I would love to see you put my dad in his place. Mom doesn't really care what I do but dad's made it his mission in life to screw me over," she scoffed. "Four days of freedom. Awesome. See you guys tomorrow!" She waved as she split off towards her home.

"I'm still worried," Miyako sighed. "What if we fail? What if we die?"

"Think of it like this," Sayuri suggested "Do you remember a couple weeks ago when some civilian kids were picking on that little girl."

"Yes…"

"And they looked all tough."

"Yes…"

"And you knocked them on their butts?"

"Yes…"

"Think of these raiders as grown up versions of those kids," Sayuri said. "No real training, just running around looking tough and picking on anyone they can find who's weaker than them."

"But they have weapons," Miyako pointed out. Sayuri just faced her for a moment and pointed at her kunai holster.

"And what's in there?"

"Weapons…?"

"Okay then." Sayuri shook her head as Miyako split off for her house as well. "See you tomorrow."

"Bye."

That night after dinner Sayuri changed into her pajamas and packed her bag while Satoru lounged on her bed, talking to her.

"Nervous?" he asked as she went through her equipment pouch. She had scrolls inside, tags, spare weapons. A few plasma pills, a needle and thread, and bandages were stored in one scroll in case things went bad. The others were empty or holding spare weapons.

"Not really," Sayuri admitted. "Not as much as I thought I would be. It's fairly straightforward and I'm confident in our abilities."

"That's good," Satoru approved. "Half the time the biggest enemy genin have is their own nerves. They get so nervous they forget all their training and blunder into things."

"I don't think we'll do that," Sayuri said, shaking her head as she checked the edges of her kunai and shuriken for sharpness and nicks. She laid her kunai holster and her equipment pouch on the table by her bed, waiting for her tomorrow, and grabbed her backpack.

"So it's just an escort? The main threat is raiders?" Satoru recalled.

"Yes. Have you fought many before?"

"Yeah," Satoru snorted. "They look big and scary but a lot of them don't have much more training than the average person. Some will stand down just at the sight of a group of shinobi. That probably won't happen, seeing as you guys are all girls and three of you are so young, but in the future, you probably won't have to worry all that much. You three will be pretty threatening."

"That's what I'm hoping," Sayuri said as she set her canteen and provisions inside on top of a spare shirt and pair of pants. There were a few herbs just in case. She threw in a coil of rope on top. Rope was a highly useful thing to have with you. That was really all she was taking, aside from the sleeping bag tied on top of her pack. She hefted it and was pleased with how light it was.

"You pack light," Satoru said in amusement.

"I've survived on less before," she shrugged. "We'll be fine, I'm sure."

"You guys will do great. Ayano will probably start letting you go out on more C-rank missions if this goes well," Satoru assured her. "Now go on, get some sleep," he said, getting off her bed. Sayuri crawled under the covers and Satoru pulled the sheets up to her chin, brushing her hair back from her face.

"I'm not a kid anymore, Satoru," Sayuri protested weakly, but she didn't really mind.

"I know," Satoru sighed. "When'd that happen?"

* * *

Yasushi was an incredibly twitchy man. He was very thin, his clothes hanging off of him loosely. His face was boney and there were dark circles under his eyes. Every time there was a noise in the brush he flinched and his eyes darted around nervously. He had been wringing his hands since they set out.

"What was that?" he asked in a nasally voice as a twig snapped.

"Sorry," Kiyomi apologized, lifting her foot off a branch. She looked at Sayuri and Miyako and grinned slightly. They covered their mouths to hide snickers. Ayano sent them stern looks.

"Yasushi, you're in good hands," Ayano said for the third time since they'd left. It was now noon.

Yasushi sniffed. "Well excuse me if I'm worried about the… Raiders!" he yelped as something shifted in the brush. A bunny hopped out into the path, twitched its nose at them, and loped across into the tall grass. Yasushi let out a relieved breath of air and once again the genin were restraining giggles.

"They wouldn't dare come this close to Konoha," Ayano said, desperation tingeing her voice as she tried to calm him down. "We're still in patrolled forests."

"But they could slip through!" Yasushi argued.

"Sir, our guards are very well-trained and they're very alert," Sayuri attempted. Yasushi sniffed.

"I still think I should have better protection."

"How so?" Ayano asked, narrowing her eyes in annoyance.

"I'm being protected by women!" he exclaimed, waving his hands around. "Three of them are kids and one's wandering around with her eyes covered."

"It wouldn't make a difference, seeing as I'm blind," Sayuri huffed. Yasushi moaned.

"A blind girl! I'm being guarded by a blind girl!"

"Sayuri," Ayano hissed warningly as bone began to slip from her palm.

"Can't I just scare him a little?" she hissed in reply.

"No. He's an ass but he's a client. Be nice."

Sayuri took a deep breath and pasted a smile on her face. "I'm well-trained sir, and was in the top of my class. I assure you, I'm just as capable as any other shinobi."

"I doubt it," Yasushi grumbled.

"She's gonna kill him," Miyako said worriedly.

"And you're all skinny too," Yasushi added. "No muscle at all."

"Isn't that the pot calling the kettle black?" Miyako murmured.

"I could pick up and throw that little weasel!" Kiyomi growled.

They were all grateful to stop for the night. Sleep would be an end to Yasushi's complaints. The girls quickly set up camp while Ayano made a fast dinner. Yasushi ate quickly and almost immediately passed out.

"Wow, all the walking really tired him out," Kiyomi said, poking him in the side. He gave a loud snore in response. "He's a wimp."

"No he's not," Sayuri said guiltily. Ayano narrowed her eyes.

"What did you do?" she asked. Sayuri fished in her pack and held up a small pouch of tea leaves.

"That's chamomile," Miyako realized.

"You drugged him!" Ayano exclaimed incredulously. "Sayuri, you-" She paused and glanced at Yasushi, who was snoring away obliviously. "No, forget it. If he wasn't such a sexist jerk I might be angry. But as it is, I'm just glad he's quiet."

"You're my hero," Kiyomi grinned, patting Sayuri on the back as she tucked the pouch back in her bag.

"Why thank you," Sayuri smiled.

The next day was when things got touchy. They were out of Konoha territory and therefore if the raiders were going to attack, it was going to be around here. They would be at the village by late afternoon.

"You said this is where the raiders are most likely to attack?" Yasushi blabbered, looking left and right. Ayano groaned, regretting telling the girls that this morning. She'd thought he was still asleep… "Aren't you going to assume some kind of defensive formation? My life could be in danger! They could attack any minute!"

"Oh if only," Kiyomi grumbled. "If they do, can we just hand him over?"

"That's horrible," Miyako scolded, but she was restraining a smile. Sayuri grinned.

"And what are you smiling about?" Yasushi demanded. "This is dangerous! But of course kids don't understand how serious this is… Slacking off… Telling jokes… Gossiping girls…"

"Please can I hit him?" Kiyomi moaned.

"I call first," Ayano hissed back. The three girls had to actively restrain themselves from bursting out laughing as their teacher glared at Yasushi and made a rude gesture at his back.

Ayano paused suddenly and threw out a hand in front of the genin.

"And it's not as if there aren't better candidates for this job, because I saw much better choices in Konoha!" Yasushi continued ranting.

"Yasushi, shut up!" Ayano hissed.

"Excuse me?" Yasushi demanded, turning on her. "How dare you-?"

He screamed and cowered behind Ayano as a group of men burst from the bushes. Large swords glinted in the light, and there was even a man with a pair of axes in his hands. They were all tall and muscle-bound, but Ayano had been right. The three genin could pick out their weak spots already. They wore little armor and despite their scars and snarls, none of them looked like they had a particularly stable stance.

"Well well," chuckled the one in the front of the group blocking the path. He wasn't the tallest of them, but he was definitely the widest, with huge, muscular shoulders. He was clearly the leader of the group. There was a giant two-handed sword strapped across his back and he wore only a pair of pants and a pauldron over his left shoulder. "Yasushi, this is all Konoha's gonna give you? A bunch of girls? They must realize how pathetic your village is."

"My village isn't pathetic Akihiro," Yasushi squeaked, still hiding behind an annoyed Ayano. He glanced at the genin. "Tell them!" he insisted.

Sayuri shrugged. "We've never been to your village."

Akihiro threw back his head laugh. "I like her! Maybe I'll leave her alive and take her with us when leave. Would you like you that, my pretty?" he cooed at her mockingly.

"I'd rather swim in excrement," Sayuri replied, lips twisting in distaste. A couple of Akihiro's men tittered and he glared at her.

"Fine, you'll die with your little girlfriends and Yasushi," he snarled. "Come on men, let's _fight!_"

The raiders rushed them. Ayano held her ground, Yasushi whimpering behind her, and the genin fanned out. Sayuri swept her arm through the air and fired bone bullets at the first one who came at her, sending him flying back into the man behind him. He staggered as he caught his dead companion and tossed the body aside, snarling as he lunged at Sayuri.

Miyako locked one in a genjutsu, distorting his depth perception. He swiped with his sword where he thought she was only to hit nothing but air, a kunai slamming into his heart. He fell, blinking in surprise. She turned and ducked under the swing of one coming up behind her, only for Kiyomi to leap forwards and draw him away with a series of nicks across his body.

Kiyomi gulped as the man turned on her with a growl, blood dripping from a few minor wounds. "That's a really big sword…" Just as the man started preening she grinned and asked, "You compensating for something?"

He charged at her with a cry of "Bitch!" and Kiyomi ducked, dropping and sweeping his leg before popping up.

"Fireball Jutsu!"

The man screamed as he was engulfed in flame.

Ayano held her own marvelously. A few men went straight for her, seeing her as the shortest path to Yasushi. She proved that was a bad idea. The first man came at her and she leapt, kicking him in the chin with such force that his head snapped back and he dropped, neck broken.

One of his companions kicked him aside and raised his sword over his head, aiming to cleave Ayano in half. She made a series of hand signs and her entire right leg sparked with electricity. The man's eyes widened and he attempted an odd sort of half-pirouette to get away from her, but the kick caught him across the side, sweeping him into a tree. He hit with a loud thump and slid to the ground unconscious, clothes smoking.

Sayuri shrugged off her shirt, a bone membrane appearing under her skin as bone swords slid into her palms. She faced down two men, one on each side of her. She was behind Ayano. A few of the men had wised up and were trying to sneak around Ayano to get at Yasushi.

"Cute pig sticker," one of them sneered.

"That makes you the pig," Sayuri replied instantly. He growled and swung at her. Sayuri reversed her grip on the swords and raised her left arm. The man smiled, thinking he was about to slice her arm off. His eyes widened as his sword connected with her own and it held.

"What the-?"

Sayuri's other sword came in, dragging in a long diagonal from his right shoulder to left hip. She spun and elbowed him away from her. He dropped his sword, trying to hold his guts in as Sayuri engaged the other one. He'd tried to take advantage of her distraction by charging in. He clearly hadn't expected her to take out his partner so quickly. Sayuri drew back her arm and threw. The man ducked under the strike, but it thunked into the back of another bandit, dropping him. Kiyomi blinked as her opponent suddenly fell. She met Sayuri's eyes, smiled and nodded, and spun, kicking another raider in the stomach viciously.

"Now you're down a weapon," the man grunted, straightening. "What're you gonna do?"

He swiped at her chest and his eyes widened in horror when Sayuri's ribs burst out, holding the weapon at bay. He tried to disengage, but more bones caught and held the sword.

"This," Sayuri said, sweeping her blade across and slitting his throat. She winced in distaste as blood sprayed on her.

Miyako was on own. As soon as she'd dropped the first two she'd scampered up a tree and was now making use of her seemingly endless arsenal of senbon, pricking men across the battlefield and distracting them long enough for others to finish them off. A few of the bodies looked vaguely like porcupines, with silver needles glinting from all over them.

She saw one man coming towards Sayuri and started on him, hurling a rain of senbon across his back. The problem was that this was one of the few with armor on. Granted it was only boiled leather and not plate, but the senbon didn't go far enough through to do more than scratch him. Miyako knew a single shout would get Sayuri's attention, but she was wary of giving her position away.

Kiyom's eye was caught by the glint of silver and she saw a man with a couple senbon sticking out of the back of his armor advancing on Sayuri, who was locked with another raider, her back to him. She saw Miyako in a tree across the way, frantically hurling weapons at him, but he refused to go down.

"Fireball Jutsu!"

The man howled as he was set ablaze and Sayuri realized she was in danger. She spun and dropped him, disengaging with her opponent just long enough to hurl a kunai into his throat before locking her blade with him again. She smiled slightly. It was true, she could rely on her team.

It was a short battle. The raiders may have come with twenty men, but as soon as they'd seen their opponents were little girls, they'd dropped their guard. That was their mistake. The three genin took no prisoners, slicing through anyone who came at them. Ayano didn't have a lot of trouble. As soon as the raiders realized she was the strongest, the immediately began going for the weaker targets, the young girls, who ruthlessly taught the bandits not to underestimate them.

"Well that was fun," Kiyomi said, grunting in distaste as she nudged a corpse out of her way. "Do we just leave them here?"

"That seems a bit rude to future travelers," Sayuri commented, letting her bone swords crumble. There were a few stuck in chests of corpses and there was no way she was leaving them for others to use. She nodded to Kiyomi. "Thanks for that Fireball Jutsu."

"Thanks for taking out that other guy," Kiyomi said as she collected some of her kunai. Miyako dropped from the ground and started tugging senbon out of bodies, wiping them on her pants and putting them back in place.

"We'll shove them off into the brush," Ayano said, grunting as she heaved one up and tossed him carelessly into the foliage surrounding the path. "That way they won't block anyone's path."

It was messy work, and they were all pretty bloody when they were done, but at least anyone who came through later on wouldn't have to stare at dead bodies.

"Where's Yasushi?" Kiyomi asked, suddenly looking up. She paled. "Oh, please tell me one of them didn't run off with them."

"He's fine," Ayano said, staring down at the only body still lying in the road. It was Yasushi. She poked him with one foot. "The little wimp passed out the second I kicked the first one."

"You did snap his neck," Sayuri pointed out.

"Details," Ayano said, waving her hand dismissively.

* * *

**I posted a new poll on my profile, please go check it out and vote guys!**

**Come on guys, over 3 thousand hits and 36 reviews? I don't like doing this, but I really want to know what you guys are liking or disliking about the story. I've tried to keep this on a weekly schedule, but I'm not going to post the next chapter until at least 45 reviews. I want to know if you like it! If no one does there's no point in me continuing to work on this! **


	10. Caring

**Hey guys! So uh, funny story. When I updated I accidentally clicked the wrong document. The little author's note thing that appeared was for my story Angel of Death. Yes, I fully intend to keep this going, and I have the next chapter typed up. Coincidentally the bit about being busy is true. With finals coming up I'll be updating biweekly instead of weekly for a bit, unless the stars align and I actually have free time.**

**Anyway, here's the real update!**

* * *

**Truth: They all cared about each other.**

The village was understandably wary of them when they walked in covered in blood with Ayano carrying Yasushi over her shoulders. She quickly explained what had happened, saving Yasushi's dignity by saying he got knocked out. He woke up sometime during the explanation, smoothing everything over for them.

"Why didn't you tell them he fainted?" Kiyomi complained under her breath. Ayano sighed.

"I don't know, I'm a sap?"

The village was very glad to have them, especially seeing as they had already put a dent in the raiders. There was an old woman who'd offered to put them up for their visit. They were escorted to her home and shown their room. There were a few bruises and cuts to tend to, the worst being a thin cut along Sayuri's shoulders that stopped bleeding within minutes.

Surprisingly, they were not just left alone to lick their wounds. No, villagers kept showing up and bringing them food for dinner and meals the next day. The old woman very happily took all the food, because it meant she didn't have to cook for her guests.

"They weren't that tough, I don't know why everyone's so happy to see us," Miyako admitted as the seemingly last well-wisher left, leaving a casserole in her wake. "It wasn't that hard of a fight."

"I know," Kiyomi said thoughtfully. "It didn't seem to take that long, really."

"And Ayano took out most of them," Sayuri recalled.

Ayano's snort from the corner where she'd laid out her sleeping bag caught their attention.

"What?" Kiyomi asked blankly.

"Guys, those raiders have been kicking this village's butt for months. The only reason they've gotten away with it is because no one's stood up to them. They weren't particularly hard to fight, definitely not as bad as it would be if we were up against shinobi. But you girls are good. You're thirteen, and you just took out about four men twice your age each. Be proud," Ayano encouraged.

"She's right," Kiyomi said proudly. "We totally kicked their butts!"

"To Team 9!" Miyako cheered.

"Team 9!" Sayuri joined.

"Team 9!" Kiyomi chimed in. The three girls laughed.

"I'm glad they're finally gone though," Kiyomi said as she started stripping. The old woman had set up four tubs full of hot water along one wall of their room. "I'm so ready for a bath."

They were all bloody and dirty, and baths had been put off by politeness and protecting the village's reputation. They had to thank everyone who came and assure them that Konoha was glad to help. By the time they were free, the blood had dried and stiffened their clothes. All in all, they just felt gross.

"Heaven," Sayuri sighed as she slid into her bath. She ducked her head under the water and came up, swiping her hair out of her face and moaning in delight. The others climbed into their own tubs and started scrubbing. The water around them turned red and brown with dirt and as soon as they were clean they climbed out, changing into their spare clothes. They used the water to scrub the blood and dirt out of their clothes as best they could and Ayano took them out to hang on the clothes line. Hopefully they'd be dry by tomorrow and they could have relatively clean clothes every day.

* * *

The next morning they woke and ate breakfast with the old lady, whose name was Kaede.

"We are glad that you have stayed," the woman said as she poured them tea. "It would be dangerous for us now, especially after you killed Akihiro."

"Akihiro?" Kiyomi said blankly.

"He was the lieutenant of the band," the old woman said knowledgeably. "His older brother Ichiro is in charge of it."

Ayano groaned. "Awesome. So we killed the worst person possible."

Kaede shrugged. "Pretty much."

"Hey, you did it," Kiyomi said, pointing at Ayano, who sighed.

"Well, I didn't _know._"

"If she didn't I would have," Sayuri said honestly.

Ayano shook her head. "Alright ladies, no slacking off. We'll be training while we're here." That triggered groans all around.

"We just had our first real fight yesterday!" Kiyomi protested.

"Yeah, and your second real one might be coming up soon," Ayano countered.

"Can we at least finish breakfast first?" Miyako asked, gesturing to her only half-eaten plate.

Ayano held up her own plate. "Do I look done? Yeah, keep eating and I'll tell you what we're doing."

They were walking on water. Simple in theory. In practice, not so much. It was very similar to the tree-climbing exercise Satoru had put Sayuri through in the early days and Ayano had them do it too. This was an advance on that. The water rocked and moved under them, and was a liquid, so it became trickier to keep their chakra steady.

"You're sure this is possible," Kiyomi asked, looking at the lazy water of the river that wound through the village. Downstream a few housewives were chatting on the bank while their children frolicked in the water. In response, Ayano stepped out onto the water, strolling casually along the top of it.

"Okay, I so want to do that," Kiyomi said enviously.

"Try it," Ayano invited. "I gave you the theory over breakfast. Let's see what you can do before lunch."

'What they could do' right off the bat was revealed to be 'sink.' They each stepped off the bank and their feet slid right through the surface.

Miyako was the one with the best chakra control out of all of them. She was the first to get a foot stable, followed by Sayuri and Kiyomi. Sayuri's odd way of walking, putting down first her toe and then her heel, proved to be an advantage here. As soon as she stabilized one foot, she set down the toe of her other foot and did it in halves. Kiyomi was pretty good, as she had the best balance. She had fewer instances of losing her balance, followed by her concentration, and then splashing into the water.

By lunch, they were all soaked, and they stretched out on the bank to dry off a little and eat the meal Kaede had packed for them, talking about some of the most dramatic falls of the day.

"And you looked like a pinwheel!" Kiyomi giggled as Miyako blushed.

"I was trying to keep my balance," she explained.

"I think the best was when Sayuri _yelped._ I didn't even know you could _make_ that noise," Kiyomi chuckled.

"What about your fall? You just suddenly dropped," Sayuri countered.

"My failure was _stealthy_," Kiyomi grinned mischievously.

"You all looked completely hilarious," Ayano chuckled.

Even she was wet. At one point all three of them had lost their balance and gone under within seconds of each other. While under the water, Kiyomi had gestured to Ayano, standing easily on the water a short distance away. Miyako and Sayuri couldn't resist. They'd reached up and yanked Ayano down into the water with them. She'd thought it was a great joke and congratulated them on getting her as they all surfaced.

"Hey," said a small voice. They all looked up. The children who had been playing downstream were now standing by them, their mothers a short distance away. "'re you the ninja ladies?" asked a young boy with both of his front teeth missing. Behind him, a girl with her black hair in pigtails and a slightly chunky boy were looking on eagerly.

"Female ninja are called kunoichi," Sayuri corrected out of habit.

"K'nochi?" the boy repeated, stumbling over the word and his lack of teeth.

"Close enough," Miyako chuckled.

"What're ya doin' on the water?" asked the boy.

"We're learning to walk on it," Kiyomi explained.

"You can do that?" asked one of the mothers in surprise. Ayano nodded. "I see," she said faintly.

"Improves chakra control," Ayano said with a shrug.

"Could you teach us?" the girl asked hopefully.

"Sorry, we can't," Miyako apologized. The children were far too young and didn't have anywhere near the chakra or control needed to have a prayer of succeeding. Their faces fell and Miyako winced.

"It's a super-secret ninja thing," Sayuri said, covering for her.

"We'd get in deep trouble if we told," Kiyomi jumped in.

"Can you show us anything?" the pudgy boy asked hopefully.

"Uh, sure?" Miyako stood up, pulled out a kunai, and casually nailed an apple dangling from one of the fruit trees that grew along the bank. It fell. The girl scurried over and picked the apple up by the handle of the kunai, looking at it in awe.

"You hit it!" she said, holding up the kunai and apple as proof.

"How'd you do that?" the first boy asked in awe.

"Lots of practice," Miyako explained.

"Here, I can do something," Kiyomi said, standing up. She stood and faced out over the water. "Fireball jutsu!" Fire flew from her lips, lighting up the river. Sayuri stood beside her and did the same, the fire from both attacks mixing and forming a huge fireball.

"Whoa!" the children cheered as the flames died.

"That was super awesome!" the pudgy boy cried.

"How come you don't burn your mouths?" the little girl asked in confusion.

They were a bit young to understand the idea of chakra, so Kiyomi just winked and held up a finger to her lips. "That's another ninja secret."

"You guys have lots of secrets," the girl frowned. She put her hands on her hips and stomped her foot. "I wanna be a ninja and learn 'em!"

The three genin chuckled along with the mothers at that.

"Come here," Sayuri invited, getting down on her knees in front of the little girl. She held up a fist and pointed to her palm. "Hit right here, as hard as you can, okay?"

"Okay!" The girl took a clumsy stance and raised her fists, looking determined. She hauled her little fist back and punched Sayuri's hand. Sayuri moved her hand back and jerked.

"Whoa, you've got quite a punch there," she said, shaking her hand as if it stung. In all honesty, it did a bit. She was trained to take hits, but that girl had quite the arm. "I think you've got a good chance!"

"I bet I can hit harder," bragged the boy with the missing teeth. He swaggered up to Sayuri and she raised her palm in invitation. He swung and completely missed her palm, yelping as he lost his balance and started to fall. Sayuri caught him around the middle. The girl was pointing at him and laughing loudly.

"You couldn't even hit it!" she accused.

"She's got small hands!" the boy said defensively. He looked up at Sayuri, breaking out puppy dogs eyes that were completely useless. "One more time?" he begged. Sayuri held up her palm again. This time he hit it and Sayuri grinned.

"Not a bad swing you've got," she praised.

"I wanna try!" said the pudgy boy, scurrying up and taking his friend's place. He balled up his fists and swung. Sayuri grinned as her hand flew back.

"I'd say you're all pretty strong," Sayuri said.

"Can you teach us how to fight?" the girl begged. "Just one move, come on, please!"

The three genin exchanged glances.

Suddenly they weren't the students, but the teachers. Sayuri took the little girl, Miyako took the chubby boy, and Kiyomi took the boy with the missing teeth. They taught them a basic, firm stance, then showed them how to throw a punch and a kick. Ayano chatted with the mothers casually as they watched their children.

Finally the children were called for dinner and their mothers took them home, leaving Ayano with her students.

"Well played guys," she said with faux-sternness. "You got out of training today."

"They asked," Kiyomi pointed out.

"Yeah, and you guys are actually decent teachers," Ayano said. She blew on her nails and rubbed them on her chest. "You get it from me," she said smugly.

"You know, they may not hit hard, but after a while, that starts to sting," Miyako said, shaking her hands. All three of the genin had red palms from the repeated contact.

"Anybody else feel fluffy inside though?" Kiyomi asked, raising her hand. Miyako and Sayuri raised their own.

"They're adorable," Ayano admitted. She shook her head. "Alright, you successfully wasted a day. We'll be leaving the morning after next. Let's hope we can accomplish something tomorrow."

* * *

That night they were woken by shouts and screams. In a flash the kunoichi were on their feet and out of the old woman's house. People were running in the street and heading for the square of tamped earth that served as the center of town. A huge fire flickered there.

"What's going on?" Miyako asked worriedly.

"I don't know," Ayano said grimly, strapping her kunai holster to her thigh. "But let's move!"

She leapt to the rooftops and her students followed. They hopped from roof to roof, keeping low and hiding in the shadow. When they got to the square they found a huge bonfire with nearly forty men assembled around it on one side. This was clearly the rest of the band of raiders. On the other side were the townspeople, huddled together for protection.

At the head of the bandits was a man with the same build as Akihiro, but with the addition of a few wrinkles and red, puffy eyes. This was clearly the older brother, Ichiro, the one who led the band. As Kaede had predicted, he was upset about his brother's death.

"You thought it was bad with us taking half of your harvest?" Ichiro snarled. "Well guess what? From now on, we're taking all of it!"

"You can't!" cried a voice.

"Yasushi," Ayano hissed as the skinny, twitchy man moved forwards.

"If you take all of the harvest, we will die!" Yasushi shouted across the crackling of the flames.

"Why is that my problem?" Ichiro demanded. "You all are responsible for the death of my brother and my men. Why should I care if you all starve?" he roared. His voice suddenly got quieter as he said, "But you know? I'm not a bad guy. Maybe I'll leave you enough to live on… if you hand over the guys that killed them. Where are the shinobi you brought in?" Ichiro screamed. "Bring them out and put them at my feet! Give me their lives and I'll spare yours!"

The villagers murmured and the crowd shifted anxiously. Words drifted up. Opinion seemed split. Some were hesitant to give up the people who had already done so much for them. However, others seemed to think four lives weren't much if it meant the village survived.

"Or I can just torch the place now," Ichiro said, reaching down and yanking a flaming branch from the fire. He held the torch aloft tauntingly.

"Give them up!" shouted a voice from the back of the crowd.

"They're not our problem!"

"Just turn them over!"

Soon the crowd was taken over, chanting for Yasushi and Kaede to turn them over and save the village.

"Are you mad?" Kaede shouted right back. "They've already cut that band down by a third. That's more than we've accomplished in the six months since they got us under their thumb. And you want to hand them over to be slaughtered?"

"Shut up old woman!"

"Yeah, what do you know?"

"This is getting bad," Ayano whispered. Her brow was furrowed.

"What do we do?" Sayuri asked calmly.

"Get around behind his men," Ayano ordered. "I'm going in to be a distraction."

"Are you sure you'll be okay?" Miyako fretted. Ayano grinned, reaching over to ruffle her hair.

"Hey, have some faith in me, kid."

Kiyomi, Sayuri, and Miyako moved off around the rooftops, getting into position on the building behind the raiders. As they moved, Ayano leapt down from the rooftops, landing lightly just on the villager's side of the fire.

"I hear you're looking for me?" Ayano said, putting her hands on her hips and grinning confidently. Ichiro's eyes widened at the sight of her, her hitai-ate gleaming in the firelight.

"_You? You_ killed Akihiro?" he demanded as a few of his men chuckled at the idea that a woman took him down.

"Was he the muscley one with the big sword or the _other_ muscley one with the big sword?" Ayano asked, putting a finger to her chin thoughtfully. "There were a lot of them, you see."

Ichiro snarled something that Ayano would have smacked any of her students for saying and pulled out his own sword.

"Oho! You're touchy!" Ayano grinned. "You sure that's smart? I'm a jonin, you know. You really think you can take me?"

"I'm gonna knock that sassy head of yours off your shoulders!" Ichiro snarled, lunging for her.

"Take it away, ladies!" Ayano shouted.

"Fireball Jutsu!"

Fire rolled from two separate roofs, bathing the sides of the raider's forces. Four men ran screaming into the night, backs aflame. Three were put out by fast-acting companions, and five simply burned where they fell, writhing on the ground. Senbon, kunai, and shuriken bit into the ranks from all directions. In the flickering light the weapons seem to vanish in the blackness, only to reappear when they caught the firelight and flash red. This made them hard to dodge because almost as soon as you saw them they were gone, but something else was coming for you.

"Lightning Style: Chain Lightning!" Ayano shouted, making hand signs. Lightning shot from her palms and connected with two of the raiders who followed Ichiro's charge for her. They didn't even have time to scream before their charred bodies hit the ground. The lightning split for the three nearest attackers. They shouted as they got a nasty jolt, falling to the ground with their muscles spasming. It spread to three more from each of them, and these only got a bad jolt. The next victims were barely shocked.

"You bitch," Ichiro snarled, advancing on Ayano. "You think you can just come into my territory and kill my men?"

"Well I seem to be doing pretty well," Ayano shrugged. She sounded blasé, but she was actually a bit worried. They were facing about forty men. Their first attacks took out about ten of those, killing or incapacitating them. That left thirty. Even if she took ten, that still left about six for each of the girls. She wasn't sure if they were ready for a battle this pitched yet. "Thank god these guys aren't ninja," she muttered under her breath as she dodged Ichiro's wild, emotion-fueled swing.

"Quit dancing around and fight like a man!" Ichiro roared.

"Okay," Ayano said. "Lightning Style: Lightning Beast Running Jutsu!"

The lightning flew from her palms and took on the shape of a hound. It charged towards Ichiro, whose eyes widened. He threw himself to the side, barely avoiding the attack. Ayano kept him down with a hail of kunai. He howled as a few stuck in his shoulder and side. Reaching up, Ichiro tore one from his shoulder and hurled it at Ayano, who executed a backbend to avoid it.

Ichiro wasn't stupid. It was clear that Ayano mostly used Lightning Techniques. Having metal anywhere near him at this point was only going to make this more dangerous. He stood up and stabbed his sword into the ground, abandoning it as he ran at her with his fists. It would be more satisfying to beat her to a pulp with his bare hands anyway.

He raised a fist to punch her in the stomach. Ayano flipped onto her hands, her feet coming up and nailing him under the chin. Ichiro staggered back as Ayano righted herself. She came at him with one leg extended, hands flicking through signs.

Ayano's fighting style really was something to behold. Because her hands were busy making signs, her legs were both supporting her and doing the attacks, but that was fine with her. Even before she developed this technique, if it came down to taijutsu, she preferred kicks to punches. Ayano's legs flew through the air gracefully, twisting and flashing out, crackling with energy. The smell of scorched flesh came from every place she connected, but Ichiro seemed beyond pain with the loss of his brother. He just kept coming.

Kiyomi and Sayuri were throwing out Fireball Jutsu after Fireball Jutsu, Miyako hurling weapons into the mix. They leapt from roof to roof so their enemy never knew what attack was going to come from where.

"You cowards, get down here!" shouted one of the raiders.

Miyako shrieked as one of the men suddenly appeared over the edge of the roof she was on, clinging to the gutter. He seized her ankle and dragged her over the edge. She hit the ground with him.

"Miyako!" Sayuri shouted. She leapt down in front of Miyako and swung her arms widely, firing bits of bone from her fingertips. "Get back up!" she ordered as she kept them at bay. Miyako leapt back to the roof. Sayuri made to follow her but the moment she stopped the raiders surged forwards, pressing her from all sides. The bone membrane grew under her skin and bone sprouted from her back, chest, arms, and knees.

"What the hell?" one of the bandits yelled as they recoiled from her.

"Larch Dance!" Sayuri shouted, spinning along the line. The bandits fell back, clutching their puncture wounds. Sayuri stopped spinning and the bones retracted into her skin.

She arched in pain as her back exploded in agony. One of them had gotten behind her and had just sliced her back open.

"Sayuri!" Kiyomi shouted. Suddenly Kiyomi was there beside her. She kicked, throwing the man who had cut Sayuri back into the wall. She hurled a kunai, catching him in the throat and sending him sliding to the ground, gasping around his own blood.

"You get up!" Kiyomi ordered. "Fireball Jutsu!" The light and heat distracted the men long enough for Kiyomi to grab Sayuri and haul her back up to the roof.

"Are you okay?" Kiyomi asked worriedly, crouching beside her.

"You saved my life," Sayuri panted with a weak grin. "Thanks for that."

Kiyomi smiled back. "Don't mention it. What're friends for?"

Sayuri grinned. No matter what kind of defenses they had, be it a smart mouth, shyness, or a distant attitude, she knew the truth. They all cared about each other.

"Miyako, get over here!" Kiyomi cried. Miyako leapt onto their roof and landed next to them, hands immediately seeking Sayuri's back. She ran her fingers along the cut and Sayuri winced at the tenderness but she felt the blood begin to clot, forming a scab. At least she didn't have to worry about bleeding out. Miyako's work with her father on the healing aspect of her kekkei genkai was paying off. A couple months ago she couldn't so much as clot the blood from a paper cut.

"Alright, lets finish this," Kiyomi said. The three of them stood up, staring at the raiders below grimly.

Ayano swung at Ichiro one last time. He leaned out of the way, putting his heart directly into the path of her kunai. He gasped and shuddered as the blade slid in. Ayano shoved, forcing it in that last little bit to puncture his heart. She yanked it out and Ichiro dropped, dead.

"Fireball Jutsu!"

"Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!"

Ayano looked up as the wind fed the flames, the double fireball roaring to impossible size and rolling over the last few bandits standing. They didn't try to help each other out this time. It was every man for himself. Most of them fled, screaming madly as they were slowly incinerated. A few just dropped and smoldered, writhing.

Slowly, the sounds of battle faded and the villagers, who had fled in terror when the fight started, emerged from their hiding places. Heads poked out of doors and windows, from out of alleys. A few men ventured out to survey the damage. Buckets of water were hastily tossed over any remaining fires. Children were warned to stay inside to keep them from seeing the devastation.

"Everybody okay up there?" Ayano called to the roofs. Miyako and Kiyomi leapt down, supporting Sayuri between them. Ayano raised an eyebrow. "What happened to you?"

Miyako and Kiyomi turned her around so Ayano could see her back. She winced.

* * *

The next day was spent in celebration for the villagers and rest for the kunoichi. Sayuri took the worst wound. She could have easily damaged her pine but for the bone defense. As if was, she just had a long, deep cut which Kaede stitched up while Sayuri bit on a rag, vaguely buzzed from the sake they'd poured down her throat since they didn't have any morphine with them.

"I'm not taking that," Sayuri groaned as Ayano brandished the bottle of painkillers. To keep from putting pressure on her back, she was lying on her stomach. She took advantage of this by turning her face away. "Do you have any lavender?" she begged Kaede.

"I'll get you some, dearie," she said, patting Sayuri's hand. She rose and tottered out of the room.

"And a lot of onions!" Sayuri called after her.

"Are you making the world's weirdest salad?" Kiyomi asked with a snort.

"I don't like painkillers," Sayuri grumbled. "They make me nauseous. This works just fine."

Kaede sliced the onions and handed them around. Sayuri placed bits on her bruises and sighed in relief. It reeked to high heaven, but the bruises immediately began to reduce in swelling and size, so the others quickly followed her example. Sayuri used a wrung-out towel full of brewed lavender along her back to stop the pain. Their room smelled lovely and horrible in turns for the whole of the night.

* * *

The next morning, on the way back to Konoha, a group of chunin dropped down onto the road in front of them.

"Ayano, why are you headed back?" asked one of them. "We hadn't arrived yet."He looked over the three bruised and battered genin. "What did you get into?"

Ayano sighed. "You would have been awesome to have like two nights ago, my friend. Screw you, sir. Screw you."

The chunin stared at the small group as they continued along the road.

"I'm pretty sure our job was done for us," one of them said faintly.


End file.
